Naruto: Hebi To Manto
by Death's Crusader15
Summary: -Part 2- A dead organization reveals itself to the world. This group promises the village to Orochimaru. Sasuke refuses to allow the snake to destroy his target. The organization leader gives Naruto two choices, his friends or the world? Both have terrible repercussions. Will Naruto make the right choice and can Sasuke protect the village that he despises?
1. Prologue

Prologue:

A Dead Organization, Revived

**AN: This is the sequel to the story Naruto: Sekai Saikyō No(Translates as 'The Strongest In The World'). It is also the second story I have ever written. This story will be less death-filled and wil start of better grammatically... Hope you like it. Again, I never edit when I first release a chapter,sorry for any errors, I do this on my phone and I am immensely lazy so it's hard to correct mistakes or make my stories perfect. This time my writing style is more fluent, unlike the previous story, which I was a total newb.**

**It begins two months after the end of Sekai Saikyō No. Sasuke has not been seen since the battle and Naruto is strangely still in the hospital. A new enemy reveals itself after many months in hiding.**

Life is a fickle thing. Some wish it to end, others want it to last forever. It can be changed in only an instant or ended in the same time.

The morning birds tweeted away throughout the Five Great Nations. Rays of light break through the trees and people awaken for the long day awaiting them. The light unfortunetly does not reach the dark insides of Oni Cave, southeast of Konohagakure, bordering on the Land Of Water.

Oni Cave is hidden behind a waterfall on a small lake only a thousand meters from the outskirts of a small cluster of huts known by the world as Aldmeri Village. The villagers are very superstitious, they believed an old man once went deep inside the cave to hide from some debt collectors and was possessed by a demon and killed the collectors, but he must never go to far from the cave or he would die. This is why it is known as Oni Cave.

The village people never allowed their children to play on the river near the waterfall and only the warriors of the village were allowed to collect water from the lake. It is said each day of the month when a full moon would rise, the old man awakens and kills whatever he can find to feed before returning at midnight. During that day, not one villager left their house, no matter what.

"Today." A small ten year old with sky blue hair whispered to his sister. His eyes were filled with excitement.

"Uh... What do you mean 'today'?" She asked him, confused. Her hair was also a light sky blue, she seemed only a year or two older than him.

"I..." He looked to the left, then to the right. "I'm gonna go outside." His voice cracked during the attempted whisper.

"What!" The girl almost dropped out of her chair. They sat next to one another at the kitchen table in a small house.

"Shhhh! Shut up!" He whispered while covering his sister's mouth. "I don't want you to tell mom or dad!"

"Ben by bib bu bebb be?" She questioned her brother, while he still held her mouth.

"Er... In case I die..." He mumbled.

She pushed away his hands. "In case you die!"

"Yes. I just wanna prove to these stupid people that there is no Oni demon walking around killing things... They're nuts." He shoved a spoon of cereal into his mouth.

"Ummm... Yeah okay!" She smiled. "I'm coming too!"

"No Teumi... That's not how it works..." The boy gulped down the food after speaking with a full mouth. "Your s'posed to tell mom and dad if I don't come back." His pointer finger swayed from left to right.

"But..." Teumi quickly thought up blackmail. "If you don't let me go, then Ima tell mom!" She turned to the living room, sarcasticly started to speak. "Moooom. Danny is gonna go-"

"Okay!" Danny interrupted then cupped his mouth. "We will leave at ten o'clock tonight."

"Success!" Teumi giggled.

Time slowly passed as the family sat around the house, finding anything to keep them busy. Nightfall came at last, the children's mother put them to bed in their seperate rooms and kissed them goodnight.

Danny waited until both of his parents went to their bedroom, then jumpes out of the window in his room. He quietly opened the half shut window and his sister rolled out of the opening.

"Okay... Be quiet." Danny whispered. Teumi nodded in excitement. They already lived near the woods, so getting out of town was easy. The both of them rushed to the open land before the lake, the waterfall was softly hitting it's surface.

"I will go first, then you follow. We will wait for the return of this scaaaary Oni." Danny jumped into the shallow pool of water and trudged through the waterfall. The dark cave scared him, he then pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and shined it around.

Teumi ran in after him. "We made it?" She hopped up and down. The adventure was thrilling to the pre-teen.

"Shh. Come on, let's see how deep it is." He calmed his sister before they both walked deeper in. "It's just a straight path... no turns?" Danny looked back at his sister.

The flashlight caught a glimpse of Teumi's torn apart, mangled body before shutting off, signifying the need for batteries. "Ahhh!" Danny fell back. "Turn on! Turn on! Teumi! Teumi!" He wasn't sure if it was real, maybe the darkness was tricking his eyes. Tears streamed down his face. "T-Teumi...?" He cried out for his older sister.

"Maybe this will teach the townsfolk to stop coming so close to our home." A soft calm man's voice echoed through the cave.

"Ahhhhhh!" Danny ran at the barely visible exit, tripping over his sister's body. Screams exploded from the cave entrance, seconds later both bodies were thrown from the waterfall and splattered onto the small peninsula, ripped apart and covered in blood.

Several figures stood at the inside of the waterfall. "This is the lesson that will remove this village from our... Hideout." The same calm man's voice stated.

"Now can we return to business?" A mature women's voice asked, the way she spoke had anger inside of it.

"Yes. We finally have nine member and with that monter Jastin no longer alive, we can make our move." The calming man's voice spoke once again.

"The final two tailed beasts?" A younger women stated, she had a peaceful dulcet tone in her voice.

The calm man spoke on last time. "Three remaining beasts, Fukkatsu."

"Who gives a fuck. We're gonna get 'em all. Killing anyone that steps in our way." A different young man snickered, his insane voice could petrify even the most hardened man.

The next day came and, as expected, the warriors saw the dead children on their water run, the hundreds of townspeople met and irrationally decided to run the "Oni Demon" out of their town's cave. The next night swiftly began, the time when the town would gather together with pitchforks and torches to destroy the "monster".

The people converged on the waterfall, the warriors in front, as well the gray haired village leader to possibly negotiate before rushing into battle. "We will have no more of this!" The chief yelled. "Come out and leave this place or die!"

"What the hell is with all this fucking racket?" A gray-haired young man stepped out of the waterfall, walking on the lake with chakra holding him up. "You woke me up!"

The village leader was startled. "Wh... You are the Oni Demon?" He studdered, fear spread through his body.

"What the hell? Oni Demon? Do I look like a fucking monster?" The young man asked, his voice had a touch of insanity. The face bestowed upon him was one that girls would fall for in seconds, his hair was short and colored a lively dark gray. He wore an open black robe with red cloud designs spread out over it, a very familiar cloak to any of the Hidden Villages.

"N-No! If you are not then..." The chief was slightly relieved. "Who killed our children?"

"Your..." He pondered, then it clicked. "Oh, those kids?" His half open white eyes were badly trying to hide the bloodlust that surrounded the young man.

"Y-Yes!" The leader shouted, his doubts about the stranger started to clear up.

"I ripped them apart." A twisted smile stretched across his face. "It felt so good."

"Demon!" The chief screamed. The warriors threw spears at the mysterious man, not a second after his reply. He put both palms up towards the weapons, each of the spears stopped midair.

"What are you?" The chief screamed, his doubts replaced with the horrific truth. "You monster!"

"Me?... Don't matter." The man began to squeeze his palms together, but was interrupted by a flash. A rain of blood splashed into the lake and surrounding forests as black lightning struck the people, ripping them apart like a blade would to flesh. "Hey! Those were my kills." He glanced back. The spears plopped down into the lake with the fall of the young man's arms.

"You were taking too long, Sōsa." Another young man with messy natural black hair, a disturbed expressionless mask, and the same black robe surrounded by red clouds stepped out of the waterfall.

"Gah. I wanted to slaughter them, Rasui. They were calling me a monster." The man now known as Sōsa walked back into the waterfall, dissapointed. "Next time, give me my kills."

The other man, Rasui, followed after, continuing the conversation. "They were just stupid people with stupid superstitions."

Nearly all of the townspeople laid dead on the lake's edge. The survivors cried over the hundreds of lost lives, the children ran out to see their dead parents, bloody and mangled. Such is the fickleness of life. Death can come so swiftly, without any expectation.

**AN: Criticize me, please. I have no beta reader...**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

D-Rank Mission: Make-Out Paradise, Plagiarized

**AN: I assume you read my first story so you should be familiar with Ocs and new abilities that main characters( Naruto, Sasuke, etc.) have obtained. Hope you all enjoy this story, my sole purpose for writing is for your enjoyment.**

The Village Hidden In The Leaves was still in ruins. The damage caused by Jastin would take many more months to fully repair. The ninjas of Konoha were forced into completing as many missions as possible, save the ones that were severely injured by Jastin. This included Naruto.

"It looks like your gonna be here for a few more weeks..." Sakura flipped through the pages attached to the brown chart in her arms. He hair had grown by many inches over the last couple months, so she created a ponytail with the extra.

"Wha... Why?" Naruto whined, his eyes told the world that he was neglecting sleep. He was wrapped from head to toe in white bandages, laying in a bed on the third floor of the Konoha hospital.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" She scoffed. "Move." The demand is Sakura's voice was no joke, it scared Naruto to the bone.

"Huh?" He pretended not to hear, the "move" would be almost impossible to accomplish.

Sakura sneered. "Go on. You heard me... Move."

Naruto struggled to raise his head. "Gimme...a minute..." He quickly gave up with his head and attempted to wiggle his legs. "Hold on..."

"No! Sorry Naruto. The fox isn't healing you properly so you must recover on your own. That Jastin broke a hundred bones, at least." Sakura lectured.

**Boy. Have you not yet realized that Jastin's power had a strange reaction with the power of the Tailed Beasts. Why else do you think we constantly felt his force pressing down?**

Kurama growled from within him.

"Okay, okay I get it... I guess I will stay..." Naruto acted as if he was choosing to stay, even though he had no free will whatsoever.

"You guess? More like you don't have any choice." Sakura said as she left the room. The door clicked shut behind her and she continued on to other patients. Naruto was stuck in her mind though, for more reasons than one.

"Aw... I am so friggin' bored. Soooo bored." Naruto laid his tired head on the pillow behind him. "Fox, tell me a story!"

**No.**

"Aw..." Naruto sighed. "How do you live in a cage alllll day? What do you do to keep busy?"

**Sleep.**

**"**Awwww..." Naruto sighed once more.

Tsunade sat at the table in the missions room, located near the Ninja Academy. Iruka, Naruto's tan skinned former teacher and father figure, sat next to her. Tsunade glanced up and down at a scroll labeled with a green "D" on it. "Are... Are you sure?" She held in the chuckles and laughs that fought to get out.

"Yes! I am positive!" Kakashi bounced up and down on his knees in anticipation, strange for a man like him. "This is the most important mission I will ever do!"

"Well then, Kakashi. Gather your squad and uh... leave immediately." Tsunade put everything she could possibly scrounge together into not laughing.

The sun was high in the sky, showing to everyone that it was the early afternoon. Kakashi awaited his team at the Village gate, for the first time in his life, he was early.

Ross exited Konoha through the south gate and made a beeline for Kakashi. "I'm here! What's this important mission?" He bowed to his sensei.

"We still need to wait for... Agh nevermind them. This is, perhaps, the most important mission we will ever do!" Kakashi spoke seriously. "Recently, the Make-Out Paradise series has mysteriously started again. W-"

"Wait!" Ross stopped him, moving his own slightly longer from his eyes. "Wait, wait, wait... This is about that piece of garbage book?" He pointed at the "Make-Out Tactics" book in Kakashi's left hand.

"Piece of... Nevermind." Kakashi prepared to continue but was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of his team.

"Hey!" Kanari Enjeru smiled, waving her hand left and right through the air, her long golden blonde hair swished around from behind. "We are here." She stopped next Ross.

Shi Akuma was not far behind her. "Yo." He brushed his hand through the dark gray hair atop his head.

"Yes, hello." Kakashi rushed past the greetings. "Now... Back to the mission. Recently my favorite story has released another book, Make-Out Revenge."

"Another book?" Shi questioned. "What the fuck? Master Jiraiya died almost three years ago."

"Yes. It has enraged us Make-Out series followers! So they filed a mission to catch this...counterfeiter." Kakashi acted like a completely different person when speaking of the novel series.

"Yeah..." Ross zipped up his white jacket. "So, are there any leads in this 'investigation'?"

"Yes, the distribution on the newest book tells us exactly where to go." Kakashi giggled like a school girl, disturbing his team to the core.

"Then... Why the fuck do we have to do this stupid mission!" Shi straightened his newly bought dark red vest while yelling, the course language that left his mouth officially proved that he didnt change one bit over the months.

"Do not" Kakashi's visible eye vanished in darkness as he overshadowed Shi. "question your teacher, ever." His voice scared the "tough" Shi down to his core. "Now, let's go!" Kakashi changed from anger to happiness like a bipolar person would after getting into a small arguement.

The new team Kakashi had no clue where their teacher was taking them, they followed him blindly. Kakashi had an air of happiness around him that would turn even the angriest person into the nicest. The sun turned to moon and the stars shined over the Land Of Fire.

"Hold on." Kakashi stopped his squad. They had found a small dirt path off the main road that led directly to the small distribution hut.

"Did we find it?" Kanari asked, trying to peer through the darkness.

"It's right there." He pointed to the west at a barely visible tiny shack.

"How can you tell?" Ross also attempted to see through the night.

"Right there." Kakashi's finger moved slightly to the left at a stake with a bright red neon sign that read: New Make-Out Paradise Distribution Company.

"What the fuuuuuck?" Shi screamed at the top of his lungs. Naruto looked out the window of his hospital room to see where the sound originated.

"Is anyone out there?" A voice shouted from the hut. "C-Come out now!"

"Move! Ross S! Shi E! Kanari W! I go N!" Kakashi whispered quickly before they all vanished.

"Who are you?" A frightened almost middle-aged man wearing a bland blue kimono with average short brown questioned.

"Kakashi Hatake. I am here to stop your blasphemy!" Kakashi pulled a kunai to be safe, not to mention he secretly hated this plagiarizing monster.

"P-Please! I am sorry! A strange man forced me too!" The man cowered in fear, dropping to ground and bowing multiple times.

"Forced you to? Is he...?" Kakashi could not finish the sentence as the shack exploded into four perfectly seperate walls and one roof, levitating slightly over the ground, except for the roof that floated over the ground nearly three meters. The frightened man ran to cover behind Kakashi.

"You actually came, Kakashi?" A gray haired young man stood in the middle of the broken empty hut, his palms outstretched to either sides of him. He wore a Mist ninja jonin flak jacket.

"Who are you?" Kakashi bent forward in a battle-ready position.

"Me? Don't matter." Sōsa snickered. "All that matters is that you hand over Naruto Uzumaki."

"Naruto?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow.

Shi flipped through the small eastern window of the levitated wall and straightened his right leg for impact. "Threat elimina-"

"Didn't catch that." Sōsa moved his palm towards Shi, stopping him midair. The walls stopped levitating and crashed into the ground, falling outwards. The stray walls just barely missed Kanari and Ross as they dove out of the way. The roof thrusted back into the darkness of the wooded area

Ross pulled a shuriken from behind Sōsa and threw it at the gray-haired ninja. Shi awkwardly flew to his protection at a flick of Sōsa's wrist, the shuriken dug deep into his throat. "Shi! What're you doing protecting him?" Ross panicked.

Shi coughed repeadedly before answering. "I...I can't control myself... My...fuckin' body."

"What? Mist ninja, what did you do?" Kakashi hesitated to attack, scanning his enemies ability.

_I can't see his ability. Whatever kind of power he has looks dangerous..._

"Hahahahaha!" Sōsa laughed like a madman, cocking hid head back. "Nothing really...Just took his body. Go ahead, attack." His white eyes pierced through the darkness, almost eating away at Kakashi. "Or just give me Naruto Uzumaki."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

#7: Sōsa Masutā, The Manipulator

_I was adopted into an average low-class family. My father was a money scrounger, he never spent any of it unless the reason was an absolute necessity. At least whatever he had considered to be a necessity. That unfortunetly forced my family into many hard times. Stupid fool. My mother was the opposite, a sweet caring women._

_When I was a young boy, I would find any small living creature to suck the life out of. From ripping apart bugs to snapping the necks of bunnies, it felt so good. Taking the life of things was such a rush, it was nice to watch small animals slowly die in my palms._

_My father was friends with one of the feudal lords, who had recently came into a large sum of money and gave a small portion to dad. My mother worried for me when she found about my killings after watching my behavior in secret. Dad didn't care since it was important to him, instead of some sort of therapy he bought another house, which apparently was a "necessity"._

_The next day was my graduation exam, which changed only a few years ago because of some Zab-something kid that slaughtered all of the would be Mist genin. I easily passed it, after receiving my headband I quickly returned home to show my parents. This was the most excited I had ever been, ninja killed all the time. This was my opportunity to slaughter things for the rest of my life._

_When I got home... I witnessed by father beating my mother, almost to death... About some stupid argument that was vaguely important. I screamed at him to stop, he would not respond with words and apparently saw me as a threat. He must have spent a large chunk of money on booze, getting severely intoxicated, at least that is what I kept telling myself._

_Dad pulled a switchblade on me, an almost innocent child only wishing to show off his new headband. He shoved the blade into my mother as she jumped to protect me, saving her child. I snapped. I could do nothing to a grown man, even as a ninja— a genin._

_That was when I discovered my kekkei genkai, my bloodline trait. I was adopted, so my real parents were unknown, which meant that my family was unaware of this ability. I made my father kill himself in front of my wounded mother. She was crying and swung her arms around me, hugging me, glad I was alive but mourning her husband at the same time._

_I didn't like it, her touch felt wrong on my skin, don't touch me, you bitch, I whispered into her ear before forcing her to snap her own neck, only making me happier with her being such a close relative. Jonin found their bodies the next day, assuming it was murder-suicide. _

_There was no place for me to go, I thought that the Mizukage would sent ninja to hunt for me so I stayed in the woods somewhere in the east of the Land Of Fire, killing animals and the stray young children that wandered near my home as I pleased for sustenance._

_The isolation was comforting but it also made me feel useless. No one needed me. I felt like someone that shouldn't exist. After about eight years, only a few weeks ago, I was recruited by Katsu-sama. Our leader. For my abilities they named me... The Manipulator, number seven of the nine. I was finally needed by someone._

"You want Naruto?" Kakashi curiously rubbed his aged silver hair.

"Yes. Our goal requires him. So give him up to me." Sōsa bent each joint in his finger. Shi levitated next to him, barely conscious.

"What do you mean 'our'?" Kakashi returned to his battle position, kunai in hand.

"It is none of your concern." He replied.

"Well, I should let you know that Naruto isn't here." Kakashi laughed. "You've made a mistake."

"What!" Sōsa yelled in anger, mixed with confusion.

"Just me and my new team. Naruto is in a hospital bed for very serious injuries."

"Damnit to hell!... Step one failed. Step two has succeeded though, stupid fool! We have his location!." Sōsa sneered. "Now! for step three!" Shi limpy cut through the night air towards Kakashi, who blocked the kunai with his own.

"K-Kakashi-sensei... Help..." Shi's head bobbled down as he begged, dropping unconscious.

"What are you doing to him? Who the hell are you?" Kakashi's rage was unrivalled when it rarely showed, his cool demeanor was hard to break.

"Sōsa. My name is Sōsa Masutā." He pulled the entire Mist jonin ruse off in a single tug, a cracked old Mist headband laid around his neck, a large scar, cut by a kunai, was slid across the mist symbol. The clothing under the outfit scared the famous copy ninja.

"Y-You..." His eyes opened wide, though only one was visible to the world. The cloak was a terrifying sign of a long gone threat.

"Newest recruit of the Akatsuki." Sōsa smiled, his white teeth brimmed. The black robe with white outlining surrounding red clouds laid on his shoulders. It was easily recognizable to any ninja that lived during this time period.

"Ak... Akatsuki?" Kakashi pushed Shi away and flipped forward over his limp body. He rushed at Sōsa while pulling up the headband that concealed the Sharingan. The scared middle-aged Make-Out Paradise re-creator ran to cover behind the nearest tree for protection, to avoid being injured.

"What will you do?" Sōsa wiggled his fingers, it seemed like nothing, but that was not the case. Shi fell onto the floor which triggered Ross to rush to the wounded ninja. Kanari ran out of hiding to him as well, medicating the neck wound with bandages and ointment. Kakashi sliced at Sōsa, who ducked, then jumped over him as he was regaining control from the failed attack.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Ross shouted. "Why aren't you attacking him?"

"I-I...can't move..." Kakashi stood still, holding the kunai out, still facing the broken apart cabin.

"Why don't you turn around?" Sōsa laughed like a maniac. "Here, I'll let ya!" His fingers moved slowly, seemingly forcing Kakashi to float around Sōsa to face the chunin. "Now... This is fun. I wasn't sure if I could control the oh-so-great copy ninja."

"You mean... We have to fight you, sensei?" Kanari quickly picked up on the situation. She was by far the smartest ninja on the team because Ross still had not picked up on it.

"Not... technically, just this guy using my body as a weapon. This is exactly like the puppet master jutsu from what I can tell. Just attack him directly and control will be lost." Kakashi explained, eager to escape being controlled.

"You have completely exposed my jutsu? Oh no... Whatever shall I do?" Sōsa joked. Kakashi was then forced to charge at his team. Ross took the lead, blocking with a kunai.

"Y-Your second option would be to break the chakra threads attached to me... If there are any." Kakashi pressed down the blade, much stronger than the sixteen year old chunin.

"Wings release!" Kanari hopped into the air, white wings immediately grew from her shoulder blades. They released a sort of glow that illuminated the darkness. She dropped down in front of The Manipulator. "Wind style: Breakthrough!"

"Wind style..." Sōsa copied Kanari's words. "Breakthrough was it?" He sneered, Kanari turned towards Kakashi. "Oh no, you can't control yourself can you?"

"Wha... How?" Kanari struggled to move to no avail. The white feathered wings vanished, making the area black again.

"The copy ninja made a stupid mistake, I can control multiple targets! Now, Wind style: Breakthrough!"

Sōsa intricately moved his fingers, consequently forcing her to attack her own sensei from behind.

"Damn! Move Ross, go! Get back to Konoha! NOW!" Kakashi worried for his pupil. Ross obeyed, removing himself as well as Shi from the area, running as fast as he could while carrying a ninja that was much heavier than looks had revealed.

A small wind blade formed itself in Kanari's right hand. Wind strongly pressed against Kakashi and she disappeared, a split second passed and her position was directly behind him. Blood sprayed from a rip in Kakashi's jacket. His left kidney had been shattered.

"Oh, so very easily you die... But wait is that all there is to it?" Sōsa winked, like he knew a secret that only one other person knew. "Kakashi seems to have used a little eh... sumthin' sumthin'."

Red blood dripped down from Kanari's upper waist. Kakashi had somehow copied her attack with the Sharingan in the split second that it took to take the hit. Her left kidney exploded and she fell, screaming in agony.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Such a sad battle this is." Sōsa pinched his lips together. "It seems that since step two and three have finished. I must take my leave... Go—odbye!" He winked before dropping into the dirt, leaving no trace that he was standing there. The two wounded ninjas laid on the plants, leaving the darkness to tend to their injuries.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The Burden That Is A Tailed Beast

The moon was slowly moving across the sky, time seemed to take forever to pass. At least it did for Naruto, who was stuck in a hospital bed for the last two months. At first, when his injuries were rather serious, visitors would come and go, now it seems he only gets to see Sakura, which would be nice normally but she can be rather pushy.

"What the helllllllll... Why isn't Sakura here... I need sooomeone to talk too..." Naruto slowly struggled to raise his arms to his face, but failed, dropping his arms down to both sides.

**Not so fun being alone is it. Suffer kid.**

"Damn fox... Why you got...ta..." Naruto glanced around the room. "Something seems... Off. Do you know what I mean?

**Kid. Someone is here. His chakra is familiar...**

"Oh... Kakashi-sensei! That's who it is... Kakashi-sensei! Come in!" Naruto yelled, loud enough to wake the neighboring rooms.

The door slowly creaked open, showing Konoha Hospital had been lacking in repair. Naruto sat up in the bed smiling, then it dropped, replaced with a small open mouth. "You're...not...him..."

Tree after tree passed by Ross as he ran for the main road, burdened with the barely conscious Shi. The moon hung high in the damp air resting in the night sky. The yellow moonlight lit the dark empty forest with not a sign of life about.

"S-Stay awake." Ross whispered.

"W-Wh...o ya talkin' to?" Shi smiled, even though he could barely breath.

"Both of us. We cannot sleep, you especially. Stay aw-" Ross stopped both speaking and running. "Who" A mysterious man stood in front of them. "are you?"

"I am not Kakashi." Another mysterious man was standing directly across from where Naruto laid. "My name is Katsu." This man had short brown hair, just barely covering the back of his neck. His eyes were hazel mixed with green, an awkward yet gorgeous combination, yet they had no expression.

His cloak rung a bell deep within Naruto's mind. "Y-You...are...Akatsuki!" His voice was much louder this time, perhaps with the ability to awaken the entire hospital. Strangely enough, the noise just echoed back at him, like he was speaking into the neverending hole of a cave.

"Yes, Naruto Uzumaki. I am Akatsuki." His voice was calming as well as calm itself. "Please forgive me for intruding."

"How did you get here! Someone would have recognized your robe!" Naruto tried to move.

"I have used genjutsu on the people of the hospital. No one saw me." He said.

"SAK-" Naruto began to scream but was quickly interrupted.

"Please. Do not scream. You will give me a raging headache. Calling for help is foolish. My genjutsu has taken us both into another dimension. Anyone to walk into your room would only find a false sleeping blonde young man that resembles you in everyway." Katsu's calm voice also was largely emotionless, somehow it silenced Naruto without reaching any sense of loudness.

Naruto was silent. He had nothing at all to say, just to await the reason that this strange man would invade his room claiming to be Akatsuki, wearing the robe of Akatsuki.

"You will hear me out? I assume that since I have donned this robe, you see me as an enemy?... No point in answering, I see it on the surface of your eyes. I do not wish to be your enemy. So I will not be."

"You won't be?" Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Just like that?"

"Indeed. Now a proposition. Or maybe I should call it an ultimatum." Katsu walked to the end edge of Naruto's bed.

"Ulti...matum?" He questioned. "What is it?"

"Yes. I do believe that you will make a choice. Now, I am sure you realize the Nine-Tailed Fox has caused a number of problems for you. In the end you eventually succeed as if your entire life was a story being written out."

"Y...eah." Naruto gulped in anticipation.

"I am of the Akatsuki. Our goal is to obtain all of the Tailed Beasts, that has not changed. So, you will come with me now." Katsu threw his hand out to pull Naruto out of bed. "Let us go."

"Your funny." Naruto became very serious. "What's the ultimatum?"

Katsu reeled his hand back in then dropped it to his side. "If you do not decide to join me..."

The forest seemed to have vanished around Ross and Shi. It was pitch black, there was absolutely no light.

"What if I don't feel like coming with, Make-Out Paradise phony." Ross stood his ground, Shi on his back still.

Katsu smiled, yet it had no value of happiness. "You can tell that was me? Indeed it was all apart of my greater plan to seperate you from others, also to attract Kakashi to me with a fake book of his favorite series. I know that the only Leaf ninja that reads the series would take the mission in an instant." The false smile fell back into a stationary straight mouth.

"Why did you need to see Kakashi? And seperate me?" Ross repositioned the completely unconscious Shi on his back.

"Ah, you see my ninja art is somewhat rare. It is similar to the sharingan. I can copy anything I see. Unfortunetly, it is only as potent as the original user which I copied it from. With the Sharingan now at my disposal, I can see their moves and copy them before even they manage to use the technique."

"Wait! You can even copy kekkei genkai? That's impossible." Ross opened his dark brown eyes wide.

"I can see anyone's taijutsu, genjutsu, or ninjutsu and it becomes my own." Katsu blinked his eyes. Upon opening them, the Sharingan was painted across both of his eyes. "Now, back to our original subject... If you were to refuse me... I will slaughter every single one of your friends. Kill them each slowly, day after day, one will die.

Naruto freaked out. "You gonna do what? Fucking monster!"

"Please refrain from such foul language. It is your choice." Katsu sighed. "I expect you to meet me at the training field, right next to the three wooden poles, at dawn in three days. Tell no one of our meeting." With those words, Katsu vanished in a blink.

Ross grinded his teeth. "Why?" Rage filled the single word. The trees came back into view, the moon once again began to shine. Ross dropped to his knees.

Shi dropped off of his back. "D-Damn... Was I out? What the hell happened to you?..."

Ross looked back at the wounded ninja. "We just got screwed."

Naruto picked himself up out of the bed, all of the strangeness of the room was gone, the genjutsu that held him, gone. The bandages all unwrapped as he rolled them off. His blonde sideburns rolled out of the head wrap and his hair spiked up. "My wounds... are healed... That guy."

**Naruto. What will you do? Either way... No matter what you choose to do...**

"We're screwed. All because of what I am, what my father made me. No matter what... We are gonna die."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Hebi meets Manto

Two bodies laid next to one another, both were female, young women. All signs of life were removed from them. Their hair was azule, but what one would instantly notice is their outfits.

"Akat...suki." A man hissed. He walked out of the shadows of the dark cavern into the flickering lights of the computers aligned next to each other, on small tables with chairs that had been pulled out. "These robes bring back such a... reminiscenes." His face was pale white and he seemed to wear purple eye make-up. It was Orochimaru.

Another almost middle-aged man walked up to Orochimaru as the other "man" was known as. "Yes. I have revived the organization." Katsu spoke while running his hand through his brown hair.

"And why..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "...did they attack me?" Blood poured down his left arm as if he had washed it with the red liquid.

"Ah yes, the twins have just proven to me that your power is real." Katsu smiled, emotionless. "Now a propisition..."

"Hahaha... A propisition? You don't even care that I killed two of your members? Cold hearted, aren't we?" Orochimaru grinned like a madman.

"No, merely... They are replaceable. Number eight and nine are only as strong as jonin." He chuckled. It was like he was never rattled by anything, each attempt to show emotion was easily seen through.

Orochimaru took a liking to this man. "I have a number of questions but I suppose I shall stick with... What do you mean eight and nine?"

"They are Numbers... I kid, a little joke. Truthfully, we have an easily understandable system of power. One through nine, each number getting stronger as it decreases." Katsu crossed his arms, one over the other.

"Another question, for me too... understand this system. How would Jastin rank, Akatsuki leader?

Katsu glared at Orochimaru. "Jastin would be... hmmm. I would say number three-"

"Three? Hahahahah!" He interrupted. "Three... For a man of such power? Interesting, you are smart aren't you?"

"Yes, Jastin had an interesting ability to control the air around him. Quite formidable. The reason he would be three is because of that power, what made him so powerful in general was his invincibility due to all of his incredibly high-tech." Katsu exhaled, pushing away some off the hair draped onto his forehead. "Now the propisition. Stay out of my way and I shall stay out of yours. In return, I will leave the Leaf Village alone."

"Will you? Nevermind, I accept." Orochimaru pressed his right hand onto his right eye. "I have absolutely no reason to get in your way, get in the way of the goals of the Akatsuki." He chuckled. "I must apologize for killing your allies. Now you have only seven left."

"It is fine. I have absolutely no emotion to care with. They were weak enough to be killed by you... They must not have been to strong."

"You are truly trying my patience. Kabuto!" Orochimaru shouted. A man walked out from a room to his east. Kabuto no longer had the power of Orochimaru as he had returned it to his master, he was a normal human again, still cloaked in the black robe with snake eyes, the hood down, revealing his gray hair and content face. "See him out."

"Yes, M'lord." Kabuto bowed then proceeded in leading the silent Katsu to the exit. He returned shortly to Orochimaru's side.

"Find some sound ninja to clean up this mess." He ordered to Kabuto, who found the closest ninja to remove the beautiful, young, bodies.

"Terra, clean this." Kabuto pointed at the bodies, then looked back at the emerald-haired girl. "Please."

"Not her." Orochimaru hissed. "She just might become my next body in the next few years. If not, she has potential to be one of my strongest ninja. Find one of the four... They are basically useless anyway."

"Of course. Terra, please return to your room. Kureijī needs to use you for his...needs. Kill him."

"Oh? Do we really need to kill him?" Orochimaru clicked his tongue in disappointment. He gave Kabuto rule over anyone except himself.

"He is far too hard to control. And we want him to stop taking advantage of 'your' body." Kabuto chuckled.

Terra nodded. She barely spoke at all since her brother had his body taken. The wooden door that she stepped into slammed shut. Kureijī quickly followed, laughing like a crazy man, wearing his brown duster.

Kabuto waited, staring at the door Terra entered into, a long silence filled the room he and his master stood in. The room then exploded, the door disintegrated. Terra smiled, a simple smile with nothing hidden behind it as she leaned against the wall just outside the room.

"She's a strange one, eh?" Orochimaru began to leave the room, but tapping noises caused him to stay. The noise source was another visitor. "Now... What?"

"Long time." The silhouette spoke, then walked into the light. "I need to use you, Orochimaru."

Konoha was overlooked by the sun. Birds screeched and sung throughout the village. Naruto threw his black and orange jacket on over the ninja vest almost required to wear.

Sakura walked into his hospital room. "Oh! Your better? What a miraculous recovery!" She closed her eyes cutely with a large smile on her face. Lately she felt herself trying to impress him, even if it was only subconscious.

"Yeah." Naruto couldn't look into Sakura's eyes. She would probably find something wrong in an instant, he wanted to stay as far from his friends as possible, just to keep them safe from this so-called "Akatsuki".

"Did you hear? They found Kakashi-sensei unconscious with someone on his team!" She exclaimed. "Uh... Ross! That was his name... Ross came all the way here with a wounded ninja from some shack a few kilometers away. He said that the Akatsuki had beaten up Kakashi!"

"What?" Naruto looked up, almost meeting her eyes before quickly shifting toward the window to his right. "Which room?"

"Uh... 305... Are you sure your—"

Naruto ran past her and into the room two doors down from his own. The room was exactly identical to the one he was in, Kakashi was laying bed, awake. "Who did it?" There was more curiosity in his voice than anger.

"Hm? Oh, Naruto. I'm fine thank you. Just was almost ripped in half is all." Kakashi laughed. Naruto responded with silence, awaiting a response. "Oh... Seriously? I already gave all of my information to Lady H-"

Naruto had left the room in a rush as soon as the "H" sound left Kakashi's mouth. He sped down the hallways to the hospital entrance and out the doors. Tsunade flicked his head back into the door, making an echoing noise from the resistance of the thick glass.

"Would you stop running in the hospital!" Tsunade screamed, serious enough to scare Naruto. "I take it... you want to know everything? Don't worry, I will tell you."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Three days and then...

_Grandma told me everything that she knew. I guess I'm finally at that point where people no longer have to hide anything. The Akatsuki was brought back by someone, still collecting the tailed beasts. I'm not even sure if any of them still exist except for mine... and... Bee!_

Naruto looked up at the full moon, his "mentor" was probably contacted by the Akatsuki. Just another worry to add onto Naruto's already growing thoughts. He continued walking through the woods, passing by the memorial stone along the way. The "rock" was only a long list of dead people to him. Remembered for their actions by whom? The shadow of the memorial seemed misshapen but nothing worth looking at.

_I decided to go with them. When I was younger, I would have probably just said "I'll beat all of them before they can hurt any of my friends!...believe it... I guess I have matured a little. I am the war hero and savior of the Leaf._

The three logs that signified the training area came into view. Naruto watched the ground while taking each step towards the wood until he stopped and leaned against the middle log. "Not here yet?" He sighed. "Damn Akatsuki... Just like Kakashi."

_I left a note to everyone... on my door back home. If they find it... Everyone will know about my encounter with that guy and his strange copy ability. I hope I made the right choice... No I am sure I did. This time Konoha has to save itself._

Naruto was suddenly blinded, a palm covered his eyes to which he responded with a elbow directly behind himself. It would have smashed the attacker's stomach but instead the elbow only felt cloth, no flesh whatsoever. "Let go!" Naruto gave up and pulled on the hand.

Another hand hit him in the gut, with the palm. In an instant Naruto grew weary and fell unconscious, the attacker threw him over it's shoulder. There were two, both Akatsuki members, one of them was Katsu. The other, a women, almost the same age as Katsu if not older. Her hair was plain black and draped over the shoulders down to her slender hips. Besides her gorgeous face, she was very average looking.

"The beast is sealed for now. Let us return." He calmly spoke. The women glanced at him.

"What about the Zerobi, Katsu-sama?" She had an average voice for a female around thirty years of age.

"Oh. I have dispatched #5 to go kill him." Katsu turned and began to walk.

"What? Why?" She interrupted his movement.

"#6. Please don't speak to me in such a manner. Unfortunetly the artificial Zerobi cannot be sealed away with any of our jutsu or technology. It is special and a partial threat to us, so #5 is going to remove it." Katsu turned back around and dropped into the ground with no trace. The Akatsuki, #6, made a sign with one hand and fell through the grass as well, carrying Naruto on back.

Ross rested against the back of the memorial stone in the shadows of the forest, awaiting the one to take him away. He was very rational, knowing that he had to give himself up to this Akatsuki because he could not protect each and every one of his friends.

The wind began to push against the trees, creating a loud rustling sound. Nullifying the noise of everything except wind. It was the perfect opportunity fot a sneak attack. A kunai clacked against another, being deflected away. Shi held one his hand, saving Ross from the stray kunai that came from the forestry. "Sh-Shi?" He quickly became alert.

"Oh isn't this beautiful... A chunin thinks he can beat me." A robed Akatsuki member slowly stepped from the brush out into the moonlight. His face had lines on it in all different areas and was very pale. His slicked back black hair ended with spikes, revealing the most disturbing eyes. The pupils were simply light blue, but the whites were black.

"Ninja Art: Darkness binds!" Shi dropped the kunai and weaved a jutsu. Black glowing wrap spun around the Akatsuki member and covered his entire body except feet and face. "Now!"

Ross shuffled to his feet and formed multiple hand signs. "Earth Style: Stone prison!" A square shape appeared surrounding the ground where the enemy ninja stood. Rock instantly grew out of the square and trapped him in four walls of stone.

"There is no roof..." The ninja chuckled, preparing to jump using his unbinded feet.

Ross bent down like a track runner, forming new symbols just before touching the ground. "Earth Style: Hammer!" The ground cracked apart around him, missing the memorial stone. He jumped into the air, the cracks exploded in dust and an enormous rocks clung to his feet, landing directly over the prison, crushing it and anything inside. The ground shattered into rocks as did the giant rock and what was left of the prison.

Shi coughed because of the dust. "Damn... I guess you got a lot stronger at that sage guy's place, huh?"

"Why were you here?" Ross looked back at him.

"Fuck... I saved your life. Anyway I was completely conscious when you talked to that guy in the forest." Shi swiped away the cloud with his hand.

"You... are wounded still! What... I swear your stupid." Ross bent down over the rocks, examining for remains. "Wonder why they attacked me...?"

"Ninja Art: Dark Blade!" Shi slashed his hand across the sky and a black chakra blade cut through the air, slicing into half a human shape behind Ross. Both halves plopped against the ground, although not a drop of blood was spilled.

"Wha?" Ross ran over to Shi's side, avoiding whoever it was. "What the..."

"You have managed to kill me twice. If only I could die." The part of the two halves with the head spoke. The two parts collided and regenerated together. "If only you were a part of the Fourth Great Ninja War. I am invincible for a reason."

"What do you mean..?" Ross pulled a kunai out of the beige pouch on his left buttox.

"Reanimation. Edo Tensei." Shi growled. "We have to s—" Shi fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Shi!" Ross then feel to his knees, exhausted. "What...the...crap?... I...can...barely...breath."

"Just one of my abilities. easily explainable, I absorb your chakra and stamina. The trigger is simply you being around me. It is devastating on anyone below jonin"

Ross fell backwards onto his back. "Who..."

"Save your breath. My name is #5 Sagerushi. They call me The Undead for my abilities and the fact that I have been reanimated by #6." Sagerushi proudly stated.

"I...can't lose...won't lose..." Ross slowly grew limp.

"Sorry kid. I can't believe you even lasted this long under my pressure." Sagerushi closed in on him. "You have lost."

**AN: Support this story. I need praise... I crave it...**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

The Horrors Of The Akatsuki Reborn

**AN: I actually have nothing to say. Oh wait, Sasuke WILL be more important as the story continues and the title is translated roughly as The Snakes And The Cloaks. And for some reason I kinda wanna write a Bleach story... So I might.**

"Your time is done. Life was brief and hopefully you enjoyed it." Sagerushi wrapped his hand around Ross' face and pulled him off the grass into the air, clasping it tightly. "Another ability of mine is to absorb your life energy."

"Li...fe?" Ross whispered accidently, having barely enough energy to speak.

"Hahah. Interested?" His hand began to crush into the young ninja's head. "Yes. In life this was truly an amazing ability. It was almost immortality, something Orochimaru has searched for his entire life. I could steal my opponents life, adding onto my own. I must have been a couple hundred years old when I was killed. I was around for every ninja war except the most recent. The Third Hokage saw to my death a few years back."

"Let...go..." Ross lifted his arms and uncontrollably dropped them onto Sagerushi's arm. "Please..."

"No. I have orders to kill you and I will not hesitate." A light red aura surrounded his hand and continued around Ross. A instantaneous red flash absorbed their vision, vanishing in the same time it took to arrive. Sagerushi dropped him onto the floor. "Heh. Too bad."

**Good. Let the darkness take you. Your body will be mine.**

Shi pulled himself up and shot another black chakra blade into the sky, aiming at The Undead. It disintegrated before impact and the user dropped back onto the ground after his last ditch attack. Sagerushi turned around, the ground under him started to drag him down.

**Good, now it is my turn.**

He was then thrusted forward into one of the nearby trees with extreme force. The wood cracked and the tree fell forward, crashing into the clusters of other trees. Sagerushi still stood up, turning around to the source. "The Fuck? This just might be fun."

"**Ready**?" A disturbed voice left a human figure's mouth. It was covered in dark purple chakra, Sharp glowing yellow eyes, and lips that were connected with the face revealing sharp purple teeth. Two long ears bent backward on it's head, through purple chakra covered hair.

"Ready...? This might be a little fun. Yamikage." Sagerushi readied himself. "But it will be over so quick that I doubt it will be the least bit entertaining."

The creature's arm stretched towards the Akatsuki member, who awaited it's arrival before jumping into the air, causing the hand to smash into some of the trees behind Sagerushi. It quickly returned to Yamikage as the beast jumped to the same height as The Undead.

"Mimicing me?" Sagerushi dropped onto the tip of a tall tree. "Reminds me of Katsu..."

"**This is not a game**." Yamikage said. "**You will die here. I can foresee such an easily visible event. Prepare to return to wherever you came from, abomination**."

"Stupid fool! Shut up and die, artificial demon! Return to the dark abyss in which you came from! Ninja art: Sealing!" Sagerushi aimed his arm at the bijū. A light red beam shot at it, constricting it's movement. "If I cannot absorb your chakra... I will seal it."

Yamikage roared, distorted and disturbed, one could wonder if you could even call it a roar. The light disappeared and it's hand skimmed through the sky, enlarging then grasping Sagerushi around the chest. "**Die**." It whispered, snapping him in half.

Yamikage stood on the air. The chakra in the air around the creature was so immensely dense that the air was literally palpable. It's arm returned to it's original size and owner. The two parts of the Akatsuki member fell to the ground, almost instantly regenerating back into the one human shaped abomination.

Small purple orbs appeared from the dense air, creating a small ball. "**I will make use of this attack**." Yamikage growled with the same distorted voice. The ball fell into it's hand, now colored almost black. "**It is over. If only you were not reanimated... Your body would be an excellent vessal**."

"I cannot be killed! My soul will stay here! My body will recreate itself!" Sagerushi yelled up at the bijū. "Stupid artificial monster!"

"**No. I will rip your soul from that carcass with my power. This is the extent of the power of the Zerobi.**" Yamikage threw it's arm at him, the dark purple orb in hand. Sagerushi attempted dodging toward the right, yet the chakra was so dense that movement was almost impossible.

"No! Noooo! I won't die from this!" Sagerushi panicked. The orb collided with a rock wall that suddenly appeared in front of the Akatsuki. The rock grew over the orb and the entirety of it exploded into dust.

"**Hmm... Interesting ability... Powerful enough to negate my attack**." The bijū commented before landed on the ground.

"That wasn't me..." Sagerushi dropped to his knees. His slicked back hair fell down into his face.

"It was me." Another Akatsuki member held his position just a meter in front of Sagerushi. It was a man with medium length, spiked, maroon hair. His eyes also matched the red color. Oddly there were two stripes going directly down from the bottom of his eyes to the top of his neck, colored the same as both his hair and pupils.

"You... You are..." Sagerushi's eyes widened. "#1, Zakiasu Takahashi... The Creator."

"#5, Sagerushi The Undead. Your time is up." He spoke, his voice was somewhat deep. "You have allowed this fight to go on for nearly triple the alotted time."

"What? No... The time is..." Sagerushi bared teeth in fear and frustration. "I am not ready to go back! NOT YE-" Strange red markings engulfed his body, sealing his soul. The body dropped into a pile of sand like substance, a male corpse laid in the sand.

"**Would stay. Can't though, this kid is about to awaken. Hehe... This would have been fun**."

The chakra vanquished instantaneously, revealing a barely alive Ross falling to his knees. "...What...? I..remember what happened..." He quickly recapped what happened then looked at Zakiasu. "You...are one?"

"Heh. Child, I am #1, The Creator." The man glared at the weakened ninja.

"Then...Katsu?" Ross remembered the name that almost escaped him. "He was...the leader..."

"Yes, Katsu-sama is our leader. But his power ranking is only #3. Which means that me and another are more powerful than him." Zakiasu smiled, to him there was much pride in being stronger than the leader." "I am the most powerful member of the Akatsuki reborn."

Ross fell down to the dirt. His consciousness was slipping in and out. "...Please...I don't want...to die..."

The maroon-haired ninja slowly walked towards the vaguely living chunin. His feet tapped against the grass and dirt, time almost slowed as he closed in. "I must be the one to end your exsistence."

A shadow laid atop Ross' body, it's owner was Shi. He blocked the way of the strongest Akatsuki, barely living, yet in better shape than the jinchūriki. "Sorry...You won't make it past me."

"I won't?" Zakiasu moved his arm to chest level and opened his palm, revealing a coin with a leaf symbol on it. Then he threw it directly up. "Oto..." The coin fell into his palm, his other hand rushed to cover the it, preventing either of them from seeing the results. "...or Konoha?"

"Wha..." Shi eyed him, deciding quickly to simply answer. "I suppose... Well obviously Konoha! Leaf!"

"Let us see..." Zakiasu slowly removed his hand, purposely adding dramatic effect. "And..."

"What is it?" Shi stepped forward. "We—" His word was stopped. His body split in half, down the middle. The inards of the young ninja spilled all over the floor and both halves splatted against the grass, leaving no hope of saving the chunin.

Zakiasu was only a half of a meter from Ross. "Sorry. It was Oto." He held the coin out to his right, a music note was facing up. "Oh. I killed a young ninja. I will only get half points for that..." Zakiasu put away the coin within his cloak then sighed. "I have already killed my one alotted kill. Too bad. Lucky jinchūriki." The ground ate him, without a trace.


	8. Chapter 7a

Chapter 7.1:

-3: Two Months, Six Days Prior

**AN: I had to rewrite more than half this chapter... It was really good... It is much harder than it looks **

"Was that..." Sakura stared at the open air, small blue lights floated in the space, slowly vanishing, one by one. "Was that Sasuke?"

The midday sun peeked out from behind the clouds. The villagers stared in awe at the revelation of Naruto somehow alive. Tsunade quickly examined the severity of the wounds he had received. "Holy hell! Your wounds are one a whole 'nother level! We have to get you medical attention!" She bent down, slowly picking up the injured ninja.

"Naruto! Was that Sasuke?" Sakura yelled, the commotion of the crowd prevented anyone from hearing her. Naruto glanced at her, answering the question with his eyes, the question that she pretended not to know.

Her breathing started to speed up and tears fell. "He's...okay..." Sakura wiped the liquid from her face. She was always one to cry easily. "Thank god... He's alive..."

A few hours past, Naruto was operated on immediately and medicated to the best of The Hokage's abilities. His right arm bones needed reattachment and the internal organs were bleeding severely, not to mention the sheer number of broken bones throughout his body.

Nightfall hit, Sakura rushed to Naruto's third floor room at Konoha Hospital. She needed questions answered, about someone she shouldn't care about. His door rattled open."Naru-" She stopped. The entirety of his friends were giggling with him.

"Sakura...?" Shikamaru, no longer wearing the Anbu clothing, asked but didn't seem to care.

"Oh... Um... Naruto!" Sakura ran to him. "Your okay?" She asked sincerely. He said nothing, bandages covering him from head to toe, the only notable opening was the mouth and bottom of the nose. She awaited, slowly getting more enraged. "NARU-"

"Please. Cease the noise. He is resting from surgery." Gaara was leaning against a wall in the upper right corner of the room. "We were only here for when he awakens... Yet I have places to be." He pushed off the wall and left the room.

"Yes. It would be best if we all leave." Neji moved to the open door. "Sakura is the head nurse, we should leave Naruto in her capable hands." With Neji's comment, everyone bid farewell to Sakura and left.

"Please tell me when he awakens." Sai was the only one left. "I'm sure everyone will want to know."

Sakura nodded, signaling Sai to leave. She sighed and sat in the nearby chair that made sure a visitor's visit is comfortable, pulling it next to the bed. Thoughts raced around her mind, thoughts about Jastin and Naruto as well as thoughts about Sasuke.

"S-Sakura!" A raspy voice rapidly poked holes in the peaceful dream Sakura managed to somehow put together while resting. "A-Am I okay?" Her green eyes opened, revealing a white blur.

The fuzzy image cleared and she found herself face to face with bandages. "Wha... Naruto?" She pushed the face back toward the bed. "Your awake...?" Her mouth was dry, meaning she was out a while.

"Am I gonna die?" Naruto squeeked. "Saaakura? Please tell me!" He was crying like a baby. "I'm sooo young..."

"No idiot. Why would you be dying? Lady Tsunade is a wonderful medic!" Sakura rose from the chair. The outside was still dark yet some light was peering over the horizon. She remembered her patients, then something far more important to her. "Naruto."

The great hero was desperately attempting to scratch part of his bandaged arm to no avail. "Yeah...?" He decided to hold in the excruciating urge to cure the itch. "Oh, you don't know what happened... Let me tell you about what happened." Naruto continued summarizing exactly what happened to the best of his memories.

Sakura listened for what seemed like hours, the reality of it was around twenty minutes. She asked a question every couple minutes, nearly all of them were relating to Sasuke.

"... Then we ended up here." He finished, leaving Sakura with one last question.

"Just... Is he okay? His wounds were deadly looking." She was wrought with worry. Sasuke was the primary concern of this kunoichi. The truth was plain to see, Sakura still cared for the sick maniac that was once an ally.

"I'm sure Sasuke is fine..." Naruto almost caught onto her, yet seemed to have missed it by very little, such a small amout. "Just remember... Just remember that Sasuke is an enemy. A danger to the entire five nations."

"Yeah... I know." Sakura synched a smile with Naruto, but there was a large difference between the two. Her smile was fake.

"Damnit. I really need to get out of here." Sasuke squinted at the village from afar. His wounds bandaged up to the best of his own abilities. "But with these injuries..." He jumped from the head of the Second Hokage onto the balcony of the two story building which he stayed at before fighting Jastin.

Sasuke landed on the wood then slipped, crashing into the floor, breaking open nearly all his wounds. "AGGGHHH!" Pain spread throughout his body, shattering the barely together bones inside of him.

Hehehe... This isn't like me... Wow, this is really fucking painful. Let's see... He looked around his body from his position on the wooden ground. Both legs... And my ribs. Hahaha... They are shattered. I can barely move myself.

"Hey is anyone in there? Hello?" A young man shouted into the house. "No one should be in this area..." He couldn't have been over twenty years old.

"If someone is illegally in the crime district, that calls for action." Another man whispered. "We are ninja... Remember that before warning the suspects."

Hell. In this condition... I can't do anything. A genin could kill me. What am I saying... There is no way I can go without a fight. Sasuke leaned up then fell back, forcing the scream into submission. AAAAARRRGGGGG... Fuck! Fuck! I gotta move!

The men broke the door down, for it was locked up tightly. "Wait... Who are you?" The younger man asked as a third person came in behind them. A loud bang then a whimper, the whimper of two dying men. Then after a small silence, a hand grasped the open doorway, pulling itself into Sasuke's eyes.

"You..." Sasuke barely managed to say, his lungs filling with blood. "What...the hell?" Two yellow eyes glowed through the darkness of the early morning.

"So, Uchiha is alive? Then I guess Naruto is well too? Unfortunate." His face was ripped apart. His entire left torso and arm were gone. The bright blonde hair was thinned out, no longer shining. This description almost seemed to fit a certain man. This man was Jastin. "Just too unfortunate."


	9. Chapter 7b

Chapter 7.2:

-2: The Strongest In The World Returns

**AN: I feel like I did bad on this chapter...**

Sasuke's teeth remained visible, his eyes were widening by the second. _Not him... No. _"Not fucking you!" Blood spilled from his mouth as the words left his mouth, triggering a long chain of coughs. His bare chest was wrapped up with red wet bandages.

"Your surprised? My technology is beyond anything ninja can ever manage to create." Jastin pushed off the door and limped forward, now looking down at Sasuke.

"Please..." Sasuke found himself begging for life, pleading to be spared. "I can't die... I-I..." His mouth was overflowing with red liquid, for the immense internal damage was severe.

"Scared? I must be missing half my body. As well as I am cursed with this disgusting metal face. Actually, you are quite handsome, I think I will take your face, well the skin. And you are scared?" Jastin snickered, his words were the truth.

A memory filled Sasuke's head, then thoughts soon came after. _Naruto... You saved me. Loser. _His hand shook rapidly, he moved it down to his pockets, then shouted. "This better work!"

"Just die." Jastin moved his left hand over Sasuke, a powerful force caused the entire building to shatter. Ripping it to pieces, wood showered down from the sky.

The monster was standing equivalent to where the entrance of the house was. Sasuke, just opposite him, cloaked in the purple aura of the Susano'o, laughed. The laugh was horrific, the laugh of a madman. "Can you believe it? Naruto saved me again. AGAIN."

"How...?" Jastin growled like animal protecting itself from predators.

"A pill. Naruto gave me a pill during the dimensional warp back here. Said he got it from the Hyuga girl, it is supposed to heal anything. Now I am healed."

"A pill healed such deadly wounds in the matter of seconds? Perhaps I underestimated these ninja..."

"Hahaha. Oh well. Now it's over." Sasuke gestured his arm. The Susano'o raised it's purple arrow-sword high over Konoha, the entire village could see it by simply looking up. "Die, go to hell!" The weapon dropped down unto Jastin, an enormous purple shockwave ripped across the sky, somehow not drawing anyone's attention.

"You are getting ahead of yourself." Jastin held the weapon in his remaining hand, preventing it from returning. "Allow me to show you what I am capable of, even with my body in this condition."

"Then let show you my power!" Sasuke withdrew the Susano'o, it dissolved into thin air, leaving the two across from each other in the darkness. "Unlike before... I have analyzed your power, my mistakes won't be repeated."

"Like I care?" Jastin snickered. "No longer will I toy with you."

Sasuke dug his hand into his ripped, black, pants, pulling out a scroll with dark purple ends. "This will be the second time anyone has ever done this... Hahaha. The first time was me. The second will also be mine! Inu, I, Tori, Saru, Hitsuji!" With each word a hand symbol respectively followed.

"Oh. A repeat? This is how you died—"

"Fuck off." A purple cloud covered the entire building, evil pressure filled the air, Jastin unaffected, any other ninja wouldn't be able to stand up straight. "Witness my full power."

Sasuke's hair was a faded gray, elongated to his shoulder blades, skin almost the same color with a large black four pronged star on his nose. His eyes a deep red, matching the antique war armor he was equipped with from when the Ninja World was young. The Sharingan pierced through the smoke, glaring directly at Jastin.

"No one survived the testing of the level four curse mark. Hard to believe that someone did, I expected instant death for you... The avenger of the Uchiha lived through what no else could." Jastin slowly began float inches off the ground. "Let us start our final... Let's call it a scuffle."

Two stumps tore through Sasuke's armor, morphing into webbed hands almost the size of human beings. "You. Will. DIE!" His voice echoed on and throughout the mountain, grabbing the attention of a multitude of ninja atop the Stone Faces.

The remains of the two story building were forcefully ripped apart as a wave of pressure shot from Jastin's right palm, decimating the cloud of smoke. The destruction was halted in the instant it reached the Uchiha, he had split in half with a blade that appeared from nowhere.

"Stopped by your own weapon." Sasuke lowered the silver blade. "Feel stupid? Don't answer. The reason being that I have discovered something interesting about this sword. The God Sword's true name."

"Have you now? Then this battle just might be a bit harder." Jastin joked with complete seriousness.

"It was written on the blade. If only I wasn't injured, I could've tested what it did... Because when I spoke it's name, an immense power emanated from the sword." Sasuke held the weapon in both hands, holding it front of himself with the tip pointing up. "Let's see what you can do. Saikyō No Ken."

A blue aura of chakra released from the katana, surrounding Sasuke's body. "What..." The aura was crackling and popping, shining in the night. "Chidori?"

"My blade amplifies it's user's powers to quite an incredible extent. My servant Primero used it himself for it's augmentation on his abilities."

Sasuke vanished. Jastin somehow saw each and every movement up into the sky. "So you can see me?" The lightning crackled in the sky, anyone down in Konoha would assume it was a storm.

"The aura is quite colorful. Perhaps if you increased your speed a slight bit more." The monster pointed out ways to make his enemy stronger.

"Hahahaha! This is great!" Sasuke exploded into laughter. "I wasn't even using a tenth of my speed. I just jumped straight up! Hahahahaha!"

"You are overconfident. Far to ov—" Jastin's arm was sliced off in an instant. His body was cut in half, then fourths, head still intact. The seperate parts fell to the floor, motionless.

"Hm?" Sasuke was inches from the mess of Jastin. "Couldn't hear you." An evil smile stretched across his face. "This power is truly the greatest. You can't even survive against me. I am the strongest Uchiha."


	10. Chapter 7c

Chapter 7.3:

-1: Slithering Back To The Snake Den

**AN: Thanks Darkness9825 for your review, reading reviews really makes me feel like writing. It gets me pumped!**

_What exactly do I do now... _Sasuke hopped from branch to branch, tree to tree, through Konoha's surrounding forests. _I escaped the Leaf ninja with such ease, but Jastin, I couldn't break the head... It was impenetrable, even against The Saikyō No Ken._

"So I just kicked his parts of the fucking mountain!" Sasuke screamed into the woods, animals responded by getting as far away as possible from the noise. _In other words, chances are that shit is still alive. Which means I have to get stronger, better than both him... And Naruto._

His had since clothes returned to their original state. Torn black pants and a green flak jacket that he picked off of his pursuers after finishing them. "With more than enough power, I can single-handedly slaughter each and every person in the entire village."

A kunai dug into the bark of tree that he stood on, barely missing his face. The leaves moved out of the way of the for the black cloaked person to step aside Sasuke.

He chuckled. "Trying to kill me?"

The person pulled the hood down, revealing the face of Masaki Uchiha. "No, far from it. Just a question. You are the great avenger of the Uchiha, right?" His words sent chills up Sasuke's back.

"Who wants to know?"

"It isn't important. Let's get down to business... I want you to kill me." Masaki's hand moved to the long black pole attached to his scythe, then pulled it out from the cloak, off his back, and equipped it to both his hands.

"You know who your speaking too... And you want to die!?" Sasuke instantly thrusted the Saikyō No Ken, that appeared from thin air, at Masaki, who blocked it with the scythe. "...?"

"Why do you think I drew my Death Scythe? I want you to kill me in a battle." Masaki laughed. "But right now... With your power now... You could not win."

"Don't tell me what I can do! Release Saikyō No Ken!" A current of electric chakra covered both Sasuke and the katana, it bursted out, blinding everything, allowing him to vanish.

"Speed is something I was never good at..." Masaki held the scythe with one hand, using the other to push his hair back.

Sasuke dropped the sword down from behind him with incredible speed, it hit the pole of the scythe, Masaki held behind his head. "What?...Die!" All of Sasuke's strength could not even budge the weapon.

Masaki pushed back, sending Sasuke crashing into another tree which shattered on impact, leaving him on the ground five meters below. "Don't bother. I know you can't kill me yet. When your confident that you can, come for me at the imperial post, directly north of Konoha."

Sasuke picked himself up, then asked. "Why? Why do I have to kill you?"

"Because my entire life revolves around kiling everything else. I don't need to strive to be the greatest because I already am the most powerful person." Masaki sheated the weapon on his back, under the cloak, then pulled up the hood. "I am confident that the other remaining Uchiha can kill me." With those words everything returned to what it was before and Sasuke found himself standing on the tree he was originally on.

"What..." Sasuke looked at the trunk. "No...kunai?" His face turned to the tree that broke. "It's perfect? What type of Genjutsu was that?" A flood of answerless questions drifted into Sasuke's mind. "What... What did he mean 'other remaining Uchiha'?"

Sasuke shook his head and decided to return to the wooden cabin that he had been staying at over the last two and a half years, south east of Konohagakure. In a matter of hours his feet meet the red patterned rug adorned in the cabin.

The wooden cabin rested on a circular piece of land, covered with yellow dirt, on a small mountain. Trees circled on the edge of the land and a small path lead up the mountain, also cloaked with the yellow sand. The cabin itself was a very small one room shack. Formed by logs, it had a small sheet for sleeping on the floor and a wooden table with one wooden chair. The food was stored in a small blue cooler filled with ice packs.

Sasuke sat in the chair after grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler. "What the hell do I do? Goddamn. So much keeps happening, for now I just need to rest. I can deal with Jastin and that man another time."

"Maybe." A strange voice hissed. Interrupting Sasuke drinking from the fresh water.

"Who?" Sasuke looked at the upper right corner of the room from his position in the chair. "Nevermind. I know your voice... Just one question..."

The figure stepped out of the shadows, the morning sun shined into the window. "Why have you come?" Sasuke stood up from the chair. "Kabuto."

"Thanks for remembering my voice... Everyone else sounds the same to me so I don't bother." Kabuto wore the snake eyed hooded robe, his skin covered with scales. "Lord Orochimaru has a request. For you."

"Me... What does that freak want?" Sasuke coldly replied.

"In two months and five or so days. A new threat will emerge, a powerful group with make it's move on this world." Kabuto smiled, the snake attached to his stomach slithered out of the robe and up to the table, spitting out a letter.

"Disgusting." Sasuke used his thumb and pointer to pick up the wet paper. "What's in it?"

"More questions? Haaa... In that note are coordinates to where we will be located in exactly two months. Lord Orochimaru would like to train you." Kabuto fixed his slowly falling glasses.

"Why the hell would I wanna be back there again?" Sasuke remarked.

"Well, I have created a very interesting thing. We can train for about three years in only a week. Of course I trust you can train yourself, so we are only providing the area."

"Why be so generous?" Sasuke was quickly struck with suspicion.

"Because Lord Orochimaru wants his body strong." Kabuto grinned in a dark manner.

"Still wants my body, huh?" Sasuke sighed.

"We have a back up, but for now you are his target. You will be able to combat the new enemies with such training. I trust you will take the offer." Kabuto poofed away before giving Sasuke a chance to speak.

"Beautiful... Two months and five days... Great. I need to sleep." Sasuke yawned then laid on the sheet, placing both hands on his stomach. "I guess... I can always use more power."


	11. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Leaving The Snake Den

_The three of them went in nearly a week ago. I must admit it is rather lonely without Kabuto around. Yet it has given me time to think out the second destruction of the Leaf. _Orochimaru laid both palms on the wooden table in one of his experiment rooms, lost in thought.

"My Lord." A man's voice peeked into the room as the door creaked open, grabbing Orochimaru's attention. It was one of the Four Sound Ninja, Hikari Of The West Gate, gray hair, robe, and all. "Would you mind if I asked why you had Kureijī killed?"

"As a matter a fact, I would." Orochimaru continued fiddling with the tubes and beakers in front of him, completely ignoring the question.

"My Lord, you have removed one of the Sound Ninja Five, for no apparent reason. I must protest." Hikari's expression began to change into anger.

"Oh? Questioning your Lord? The reason I ended his life was because of his insanely changing personality and the insatiable want for...relations. He was weak in more than battle skills as well."

"Foolish reasons! May God strike you down! I should never joined you, it was foolish on my part! You're a twisted man!" Hikari pulled a long wooden pole from the cloak over his white robe. His skin darkened into a gray color and his muscles enlarged nearly five fold. "Witness God's wrath! Smite—"

Hikaru dropped the pole and fell to the floor, screaming in pain. The dark skin returned to white and he clenched his left wrist, where a mark was barely visible under the sleeves of the robe. "Oh. Tsk tsk tsk... At least it works. You were an excellent subject. Now I know that anyone with my curse mark will submit to me from my studies of the Hyuga 'caged bird'."

"What... Damn you... Snake!" Hikari struggled under the pain.

"Hmhmhmhmhm... Yes, now Sasuke is completely under my control. You are a thing of the past, die." As he readied to attack, a blade cut into Hikari from just outside the door. "Hm? Did my precious body return?"

"What an annoying little fuck." The hand around the grip pulled the blade out of the dead body and a foot stepped in the room, bringing along a person. Sasuke.

"Oh. Are you modeling yourself after your master? Aren't you pretty?"Orochimaru joked with a strange air of seriousness.

"Just because I used you, that doesn't mean you are my master. You will never again be my teacher." Sasuke spoke darkly, although this was his normal voice, to anyone else it would be disrespectful. The black hair, tinted with blue, had grown much longer, hanging over the top of his shoulders. His eyes were darker, filled with hatred, for him three whole years passed.

"Yes. We have completed Terra and Sasuke's training. Although I must warn you M'lord, Uchiha has become far more powerful." Kabuto stood behind Sasuke, both arms crossed over one another, completely unchanged by the years that passed. "Unless of course it is done."

Orochimaru laughed while nodding. "It is done, Kabuto. Sasuke you are free to leave."

"Actually I wanted some questions answered." Sasuke walked into the room, stepping over Hikari's body, to Orochimaru, disregarding the small conversation he and Kabuto had.

"Did you...? Then ask, my boy." He smiled. "I will answer."

"The room. That place we were in. How did three years pass in such a short amount of time? What is that place?" Sasuke thought back at the dark rainbow colored entrance into the enormous open space of the room.

"I can answer that." Kabuto stepped in the room, Sasuke turned back and met eyes with Orochimaru's servant. "It has to do with magic."

"Like ninjutsu?"

"No. You have seen this type of magic when you fought alongside Naruto." Kabuto pushed his glasses back over his nose.

"... That?" A blurred image of Naruto calling forth ice ran through his mind. "To think it's been three years since then."

"Lord Orochimaru's possible vessal, Terra, uses this magic ability. By forcing her to advance quickly with drugs and experiments, I was able to replicate the dimensional ability that only the most powerful of magic users can use. You have expierenced this power while fighting Jastin, more specifically where you were fighting him."

"I didn't realize that Naruto had such power..." Sasuke shook his head. "But now, I am stronger... Eh, what about the time?"

"Even though your initial battle with Jastin took only took hours, when it was over, weeks had passed. The reason for this is that because you are in a different dimension, time flows faster or slower, depending on the dimension itself." Kabuto took in a deep breath, completing the speech.

"Incredible." The sarcasm was not lost in his word. "But now I need to know what this 'threat' is." Sasuke turned back toward Orochimaru, who chuckled.

"Yes... I suppose you do. Plainly, it is the Akatsuki." Orochimaru laughed as he turned back to the table. "They have all of the tailed beasts except one."

"Naruto..." Sasuke answered his own question of the remaining tail.

"Hmhmhmhm... No. Naruto was captured a few days ago." He smiled, Sasuke was startled. "Killer Bee has not been captured... Due to his rank as Raikage and the amount of protection he has received do to the discovery of the Akatsuki from the Zerobi's jinchūriki."

"Zerobi... Oh, four-eyes told me about it. Why are the Akatsuki not after it?"

"If you know about it... Then you know it was man made my Jastin. It is a false being that was never apart of the ten-tails." Orochimaru explained.

"Then tell me, why do I have to worry about them? I'm not a bijū holder."

"This time their goal is to summon back the ten-tails and use it's power to kill everyone."

Sasuke cringed. "Everyone? They must be strong... Hehehe... Worthy to face me. Why exactly are they doing this?"

"I have no clue... It's not like I know everything." Orochimaru shrugged. "You should perhaps leave... I am very busy."

Sasuke walked to the room door, then looked back, shaking his head to move the bangs from his eyes. "If they are going to kill everyone than that means Konoha too... I won't let them..." He raised his sword to the fiendish snake. "Or you... Destroy my target. The entire Leaf Village is mine."


	12. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

The Red Eyes See The Threat

Sasuke found himself once again jumping through the forests in the Land Of Fire toward the southeast border. The destination was known as Aldmeri village, a small town near a very large waterfall.

"Why am I going to this stupid place anyways? This is an enormous waste of time." His feet tapped on each branch in front of him, that just so happened to form a path to the village.

A ninja wearing something similar to a ski mask, a headband with a musical note, and purple clothing came into view next to Sasuke. "I have no reason. I was only asked to escort you."

"I can go from here, just leave, Sound ninja." Sasuke arrogantly ordered. The ninja retorted with a grunt then stopped and turned back, looking at him.

"I really don't care for your attitude. Maybe there was an accident..." The Sound ninja sneered.

"What was that?" Sasuke stopped two branches behind the ninja, his hair blew back because of an odd wind.

"Hahahahaha! I said what if some thing happened to Lord Orochimaru's next body? What then!?" The ninja clasped his hands together. "Wind Sty—" He fell from the tree and smashed into the grass below, dead.

"You dared attack me... Idiot." Sasuke glared at the body, Sharingan spun in circles within his eyes. "This new power is amazing... My Sharingan is the most powerful."

Sasuke easily brushed off what happened and continued to Aldmeri town, which was only a few miles away, after the many hours of traveling.

The small town had twenty houses with a trader's market in the middle, the waterfall was to the southeast. Sasuke looked over the strangely quiet town from his spot in the trees. "This place... There is barely any life..." His eyes morphed into the Sharingan, scanning the entirety of the village and the area surrounding it.

"What the hell!?" Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight. "What..." The waterfall and the entire land piece it was connected to was overflowing with an enormous aura of chakra. "...The hell...?"

He scaled down the tree, taking a few steps forward before a faded yellow sheet smuthered him with the wind's help. The paper dropped into his hands in the instant the wind ceased.

"What is this? Hahahaha!" He stared down at the photograph of a man with red eyes and black hair. A picture of himself. Under it was a summarized description of his characteristics, crimes, and a number. "Fifteen million, eh? Guess in the last week, they decided I was to dangerous. Now I am going to be hunted by poor dead men."

Sasuke dropped the paper off into the breeze and walked into the ghost town, step after step, everything was silent. "This town was said to have been killed by lightning. The couldn't find any other proof except the ramblings of the young children survivors about a demon."

He explored the town over the next hour, it was small enough to not waste time on. There was no sign of anything living here at this point in time. "Damn." Sasuke sighed. "There is nothing here..." He looked to the waterfall, taking note of the path and started down it.

The water roared as it crashed into the small lake. The sun caused a rainbow to form on sight. Sasuke stood on the bank of the wide open dirt covered land just before the waterfall. "This is big, maybe it has to with this." His red eyes watched the flow of the water, the chakra aura of the rocks steadily grew bigger.

"That's..." The blue chakra turned into orange, then exploded outward. "That's Naruto's chakra... Gah, the inside!" Sasuke jumped onto the water, running across it with the help of chakra. As he jumped into the water, a foot sent him crasing back to the land.

"What is this? The Sasuke Uchiha? Fifteen million ryo bounty... Totally worth killing!" A young man stepped out of the waterfall. His strangely gray hair and black robe were soaked.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke picked himself up.

"#7 Sōsa Masuta. You are invading our home, which gives me good reason to rip the flesh from your bones..." He cracked up. "You must be worth tons of points." A demented smile crossed his lips.

"What are you going on about? If your challenging me, then I will show you what I am capable of... Akatsuki." Sasuke swiped his hands across his bangs.

"Uchiha..." Sōsa's hand moved to his chest and a click signified that a button had just been undone, a few more clicks and the robe was open. "I'm gonna kill you." He pulled the robe off, the wind carried it into the scattered trees around the lake.

"I guess I have to see what's in this waterfall by force. Too bad, your kinda young." Sasuke a drew a line through the air with his right hand. Elecricity formed around the invisible line and vanished, leaving the Saikyō No Ken in place, which he snatched with his left hand. "I don't like wasting my time against young."

Sōsa wore a common ninja undershirt with a gray vest, two skinny swords were attached to the vest, blades facing to the floor. "You don't know what I can do... On the other hand, I know all of your techniques."

"Maybe... Though they've been improved. I may have even added others." Sasuke stepped onto the lake's surface, blade in hand. "Try and keep up."

"I don't need to fuckin' 'keep up'!" Sōsa ran at Sasuke, who sliced down at the water causing it to erupt, sending Sōsa into the air, Sasuke charged at him only to stop.

Sōsa dropped onto the surface, Sasuke still floating, motionless, in air. "Didn't count on it... My ability let's me control you like a puppet. Why don't you come here?" He snickered, motioning his hands down.

Sasuke landed next to him. "Now. Stab yourself!" Sōsa flicked his fingers around, causing Sasuke to lift the blade, slicing it through his own neck. The head flew into the trees and the body fell into the lake, slowly submerging as if the remains were being eaten up.


	13. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Sakkaku Sharingan

**AN: Thanks again, Dark. Hope you all enjoy, I personally like this chapter... Even though I wrote it... Maybe cuz I got a non-homosexual(lemme stress that) coolness attraction to Sasuke.**

Blood quickly spread throughout the small lake. Sōsa dug his hand into the waters and pulled up a lifeless body, missing a key organ as well as some important bones. The head.

"Such a simple kill. This oughta raise my score by an assload... I may even be above Katsu-sama." He threw the body into up into the air and it splashed into the lake as Sōsa turned back to the waterfall.

"Why are you walking away?" A voice echoed , where it was impossible to such a thing to make sense. "Idiot. I am not dead." The entire lake exploded, water shot into the sky and stayed in the sky, levitating over the empty lake being very slowly filled by the waterfall.

Sōsa stood in the wet muck, fifteen feet below the land, Sasuke was across from him in full fighting shape. The water floated over the what was a lake, in an enormous clump. "Your fucking genjutsu. I should have known. Of course. OF FUCKIN' COURSE!"

"Heh, your pretty psychotic, aren't you?" Sasuke spoke with irony, but only in an accidental way. "Damn. I wanted to test out my powers on someone better than you. Maybe your leader?"

"Ha. Sorry. The rest of the Akatsuki are busy with the Kyuubi." Sōsa grabbed the hilt of the right blade on his back.

_Then.. They are extracted the Nine-tails... Fuck! Sorry Naruto but I have to save you, just this once. _Sasuke pointed the blade directly at him. "I see you have some swords, why not draw them so we can fight? I don't wanna use my powers just yet."

"Daring to underestimate me? I am #7!" Sōsa grabbed both hilts and drew the slender swords, twirling them around to intimidate Sasuke.

"Well that doesn't sound like such a big number..." Sasuke laughed, taunting The Manipulator, if only he knew that was the title of this ninja.

"FUCK YOU!" Sōsa dropped to one knee, it dug into the slimy mud, and threw his left sword. It flew in a straight path, skimming by Sasuke, who charged at him.

"Try harder!" Sasuke slashed at him, only for it to clink against his slim blade. Then another colliding of blades followed, then a few more. Sasuke chopped the air horizontally, for it to be blocked by Sōsa, which caused him to then spin around, freeing the weapon which he now held with both hands and sliced into Sasuke's katana, who was also using two hands to wield his weapon

"Stalemate... We both have to use our hands to keep the other from cutting..." Sōsa wrongly assumed, to which Sasuke laughed, releasing one of his hands and smashing his fist into Sōsa's face. He then took advantage of the opening after the punch and spun in a clockwise circle, ripping his sword through Sōsa's vest, sending him falling back into the muck.

He grasped the shallow cut, small lines of blood leaked from it. A somewhat happy grunt followed as he looked up to Sasuke from the mud. The sword that landed behind Sasuke shook, then floated into the air.

"Argh... You stupid fool!" Sōsa threw his hand out and pulled it back, causing the other blade to fire at Sasuke's backside. It was easily deflected by him pushing it away with the katana. "Wha..."

"What the hell do you take me as? I knew you were going to somehow use that other weapon to attack me from behind. No one just throws a sword at someone... Idiot." Sasuke stepped over to the grounded ninja. "How could you be a member? Pathetic. I hope they all aren't this weak... If they are then maybe it isn't worth my time to even be here. I should give up on Naruto so they can put up some kind of fight."

"P-Please... Mercy! I am the weakest living member!" Sōsa panicked, begging for life. He pulled himself back, still sitting with his butt in the mud. "I-I am only n-ninet-teen! My life has barely begun!"

Sasuke stepped closer, putting his foot in between Sōsa's legs and bending down to look him in the eye. "Your pathetic as hell." He dropped the blade for the finishing hit, only to be tripped by Sōsa's legs wrapping around his foot. He fell forward and Sōsa pushed him back then picked his blade up off the muddy ground, tearing it into Sasuke's heart. He then motioned his hands, causing the other sword to fly into Sasuke from behind.

"...Y...ou...idiot...the wa...ter will...crush you..." Sasuke gasped for air, both lungs had collapsed and were filling with blood. "It has...m...ore th...an enough p...pressure."

"I will just keep it in the air with my puppetry art. Poor fool. Why would I EVER beg for my life!?" Sōsa laughed maniacally. "Now just stay dead this time."

A blood wrenched smile creeped across Sasuke's mouth. His dying eyes glared at Sōsa, changing into the Sharingan, only it looked different. The pupil was surrounded by a vortex in clockwise direction, behind that around the entire red pupil were small, black, lightning strike shaped marks. "S...ee...it...My new...eyes...Sak...akku Sharin...gan!" The vortex spun at a high velocity then stopped. Everything went black.

Sasuke opened his eyes, in front of him was Sōsa pierced through the heart and lung by his own two blades, standing on the fresh lake. Sasuke was on the edge of the land piece right before the water, some blood dripped off a shallow cut on his torso.

"This is what I can do, our entire match was all apart of my genjutsu, the end was real enough. But you are now in my shoes and all I have to worry about is the tiny cut on my stomach. Now die peacefully." He walked onto the water, passing the slowly falling and slowly dying Sōsa, into the waterfall, blade in hand, into the den of the enemies, Oni cave.


	14. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Replacement

**AN: I will be releasing chapters much later because of school. I also got some old ps1 video games and turned my phone into a GBA emulator with an app. So expect later releases.**

The Leaf village was quiet as always. To everyone else, nothing changed from the daily life of repairing the damage from Jastin, helping out the village as a ninja, and going to the Ninja Academy. They had no idea of the coming dangers of Orochimaru as well as the Akatsuki.

_Today they replace Shi. My comrade that I let down... _Ross had both hands pocketed in his white hoodie, walking down the main street that led directly from the village to the Hokage mansion. _Dang. I keep feeling like this is all my fault... Maybe it is. No! _He stopped to shake his head violently, disturbing some of the people around, responding with a sorry, he continued walking.

"H-Hey!" Kanari stumbled on her words, unsure whether to have spoken or to have kept quiet. She pushed off the plank of the wooden fence she was leaning and waved with a somewhat forced happiness.

"Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet?" Ross leaned against the fence. The entire small alleyway was completely empty, no one would spend time there anyway. "Gah. He is always late."

"Haha... Yeah..." Kanari easily saw the guilt in Ross from his mannerisms and actions. "Looks like... We are getting another new member."

"A new member... The cost was the old one." He grunted. "We weren't that close but... He protected me in the end. All of it was my fault. I have to make sure that it won't ever happen again."

**Are you sure you can manage that? You can barely keep me inside. The cloak is out of the question and your power alone is pretty pathetic. That sage was wrong, I cannot be tamed.**

"Hey team." Kakashi casually appeared from nowhere, happy as ever. "We have our new member! But uh, she can be a beat aloof."

"Sh... You said 'she'? Wow I would get stuck with the single two girls, one guy squad of the entire Leaf." Ross complained.

"Yeah yeah " Kakashi quickly brushed him aside. "Come on out."

In a blink, a girl stood across from Kanari and Ross. She wore a black cape behind her shoulders that could easily become a cloak if pulled over her shoulders, under was a dark purple, skin tight, long sleeve shirt made of velvet and black short shorts.

"Megami Ochita. She is the same age as you two except much much better!" He closed his eye and chuckled. "Seriously though. Get to know one another." The words spoken were his cue to leave.

"Uh. I am Ross, no last name." Ross took initiative to introduce himself.

Megami glared at him, her eyes were a deep purple. "Yes. I know. You were in the same class as me. Each of us passed and were given teams, unfortunetely mine all died because of Jastin."

"Oh... I am... I'm sorry." Kanari saddened. "I am Kanari Enjeru. I hope we can be your new friends."

"It is not that simple. All of my allies were killed and I must admit that revenge would cure the pain hidden in my heart. My father was killed as well." Megami brushed the short shoulder length hair from her eyes, the blackish hair sparkled in the sun, notifying the color as raven.

"That's rough. I don't know what to say." Ross felt horrible for the girl. "I guess it's too bad that Jastin is dead, you can't exactly acheive uh... vengeance."

"Yes... Not for my comrades. But maybe for my father." She stated.

"What do you mean?" Kanari asked.

"Truly it is not for your mind to understand. Let us go for food or whatever other trivial things people do to raise compatability." Megami said before flicking her hair and turning around.

He sandals tapped against the ground as she walked away. "Great..." Ross scratched his brown hair. "Just..."

"Um... Let's just go. Besides I am kinda hungry." Kanari's stomach synchronized with her words in a large growl.

"You? Your fat enough as–" Ross was slammed into the wall and Kanari walked off, accomplished.

"It..." Ross coughed up enormous chunks of blood. "It was just... It was a joke... Ugh... Wo...men are so...emotional..."

The dark cavern reaked of blood, the large waterfall crashed into the small lake behind him. Sasuke was more than ready to rip apart the entire Akatsuki from their own home base or at least rescue Naruto before they remove the Kyūbi.

"A visitor? I thought I sensed Sōsa's chakra vanish. Hello. Sasuke Uchiha." The darkness cloaked the man's appearance, but his voice was calm and under control.

"Come out and tell me why your doing this." Sasuke ordered.

"I am afraid not. I must return to aid in the removal of Nine-Tails." A tap noise silenced the cave, only the crashing waters echoed.

"What?" Sasuke, aggravated, ran deeper into the straight cave path, then stopped at a wall with a seal on it, preventing further movement. "Damn. This seal is powerful." He smirked. "Too bad that I am more powerful."

"SHUT UP!" A ridiculously loud scream exploded from behind him. "You aren't as strong as you think you are. STUPID ...FUCK!"

"Crap. Your still alive..." Sasuke turned to the blood covered Sōsa, standing up perfectly straight.

"I will not die. My body is impossible to move on my own. My ability allows me to control everything, keeping it moveable. I nulled the pain with a special drug created by #6. As long as my main organs remain... I WILL NOT DIE!" Sōsa exploded with rage.

_I missed his heart? No... Maybe it never hit my heart in the first place. It can't hurt him if it doesn't hurt me in the first place. But both of his lungs should have collapsed... _Sasuke finished analyzing, then asked. "I pierced both of your lungs! How do you breath?"

"#6 is the most powerful medic since Tsunade lived." Sōsa laughed maniacally. "Her medicine alone is more than enough to cure my internal wounds. Within an hour I can easily fight you at full power!"

"Shut up... What did you just say about the Hokage? When did she die?" Sasuke pressured for an answer.

"Hahahahahaha! Beautiful isn't it? The Akatsuki gave Konoha to Orochimaru... And Orochomaru sent you alllll the way down here." Sōsa chuckled.

"What...? Then... That piece of shit set me up!?" Sasuke yelled in search of answer. "He's moving now!?"

Sōsa's head tilted to the right and he leaned forward, blood stained his face. "What. Do. You. Think?"


	15. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Leaf And Sound

"So? What will you do? Go back to Konoha... Or get the Nine-Tails? Either way... You will fail." Sōsa sneered as he hopped into the air, holding himself up with his ability.

"Hate to say it... But even I don't think Orochimaru could wipe out Konoha. They are pretty well put together. So... What I am saying is that your about to die." Sasuke bared his teeth and blinked, his eyes morphed into the Sharingan.

"Hold it!" A voice sounded from behind Sasuke, different than the previous one. He turned back to see the stone was gone and an orange red light flashed behind the man in it's place.

"Who are you now?" Sasuke scoffed.

His red hair glared in the light behind him. "Who... Oh me. Zakiasu Takahashi. Just call me Zakiasu." He reached out, expecting a handshake.

"So I have to fight you both?" Sasuke looked back at Sōsa then to Zakiasu.

"Oh no. Sōs. Go back to the transfer is what Katsu-sama says." He looked over Sasuke's shoulder at the blood covered young man.

_Sōs? What kind of idiot is this guy... Why is he looking over my shoulder? I hope he can keep up with me._

"Grr... Fine. Sometimes I wonder if you just want the big scores yourself." Sōsa dropped to his feet and walked past them into the light.

_Scores? Just what game are these guys playing?_

"The Leaf is being crushed by the sound. Hmm, I wonder if it will effect your luck." Zakiasu reached into his robe and pulled a coin out, left and right sides painted with a leaf and music not respectively.

"My luck?" Sasuke backed up a few meters. "What does luck have to do with skill?" His blade shimmered as he pointed it out.

"Tsk tsk tsk. I am somewhat of a gambler and prefer this coin as my weapon. You see I was a Leaf ninja until I was twelve and captured by well... the Sound. So I like to keep this coin with both sides of my life on it." Zakiasu popped the coin in the air and caught it on his wrist, immediately covering it with his opposite hand.

"You were a Sound ninja?" He asked.

"Not important. Now Oto or Konoha? Choose wisely." Zakiasu smirked, closing both eyes.

_What? Never close your eyes on a battlefield! _Sasuke lunged forward and sliced horizontally.

Zakiasu ducked, his hand still on his wrist, and headbutted Sasuke in the stomach, who fell back a meter. "Just answer."

_What the hell? So... He is pretty good. Then maybe this would be a fun battle. No. Shit. Naruto... I need to hurry._

"Tick toc..." He impatiently said.

"Damn it! I hate both! Give me Konoha!" Sasuke shouted, charging forward once again, his eyes glowed. _I'll see through him this time!_

"Let's see!" The coin glimmered as he removed his palm, Sasuke was thrown back twenty meters, ripping against the hard floor. "Sorry... Wrong." The coin in between his pointer and thumb showed a music note. "Ya know. Some would call this... A bad omen."

It was midday in The Hidden Leaf Village, the clouds of the sky were nowhere to be seen and birds sung only to be blocked out by the noises of the people. Team Kakashi sat inside a booth at the Amaguriami dumpling restraunt. Ross next to Kanari and Megami alone opposite them.

"So..." Ross picked up a bamboo cup and took a sip. "Tea... I didn't order this cr...stuff."

"That is mine..." Kanari snatched the cup and grabbed the closest napkin to clean to infestation of his mouth germs. "Now... Megami... I like your hair..."

"Small talk... Ah... Well then I suppose I dislike your hair." Megami eyed the volumous bright blonde hair atop Kanari's head. "It is far too bright and showy."

He jumped into action. "Oh really?" Ross quickly silenced Kanari with his hand before something started. "I'm sure she wishes that her hair was like yours..."

"Yes." Megami plopped a dumpling in her mouth and chewed slowly.

"You have such etiquette... I think. I don't know if that word is the word that I am trying to use in this word collaboration." Ross puzzled himself with big words.

Megami finished before responding. "Yes. Unlike most like you, I have been raised properly." She patted her mouth with a napkin.

"Oh yeah... Heh heh." Ross fought his anger then stood up. "Anyways, I need to go ask Lady Tsunade an important question so you two can go do something else."

Kanari latched onto his arm. "Oh...m-me too. A super duper mega important question that could decide the fate of millions of lives."

Megami easily picked up the false truth. "Yes yes. I must go. Contact me when we receive a mission." She dropped some ryo on the table and left.

Kanari unhitched herself and smiled. "Great! I have to go to the store for some new clothes. Say hi to Lady Tsunade for me." Kanari ducked out on the bill and ran outside.

_Agh! I didn't realize how much we ate... Crap. There goes my savings. _Ross placed a clump of money on the table then left toward the Hokage Mansion, taking only a few minutes to arrive.

He stopped before the metal staircase and leaned down to pick up a scroll with writing on the cover. "To... Tsunade. Maybe she dropped this? I'll give it to her." Ross climed the stairs and continued till the wooden door into her office.

"What is your business here?" Raido stood next to the door, protecting her daily since Jastin attacked months ago.

"Oh I wanted to speak to her..." Ross watched Raido's face getting angry then pulled out the scroll. "Because I needed to give her this urgent message."

"Very well." Raido somehow fell for it and opened the door. "Urgent news!" He saw Ross in then left, closing the door. Shikamaru leaned in the corner of the room as usual, masked in the Anbu shroud, the mask was different now, more like a deer.

Lady Tsunade sat in the chair behind her large desk, breasts bulging out like always. "I have a question."

"Really? Raido let you in for that? Damn... Need better security." Tsunade muttered.

"Actually I told him that I was giving you this." Ross put the scroll on her desk. "I found it downstairs and it was addressed here so..."

Tsunade picked it up and rolled it open, skimming it as it rolled out more. "This is... This is actually kind of urgent."

"Really?" Ross wondered what secrets it held.

"Yes... Thank you." Tsunade's mood suddenely darkened. "Please ask me quick."

"Oh uh well... I feel really guilty about Shi. I feel like I caused him to die."

"He was only protecting you from what I heard. It was his choice and he fulfilled his final mission to himself, to protect you. You shouldn't feel guilt, maybe instead thank him." She quickly answered.

"Yeah... Oh and you answered kind of... What was in that letter exactly?" Ross' tone changed, getting somewhat darker.

"We...have to evacuate the Village. Move them into the underground chambers. You hear me Raido? Genma? Get back up from the Sand! Tell them... We are under attack!"


	16. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Assault With Leaf And Sound

The sun sparkled, two strange circular rainbows surrounded it. One of the watchtowers mounted on the enormous gate circumventing Konoha quickly became silent. Under the roof was a dead Leaf ninja and a live one, spying into the village with strange metal binoculars.

"Commander Arrows, the snake made it's move on the nest. Inform the king." The man ripped off the false headband wrapped around his forehead and jumped off the wall into the outlaying forests, landing on the ground with a strange purple aura on his feet.

"Yes. We will prepare the 'Finale'." A woman's voice scritched through an earbud in the man's ear. He ran to the north, through the forest, avoiding any ninja out in the field.

Genma and Raido ran down the spiral metal staircase circling the Hokage Mansion. "We need to send the fastest messenger bird and to stall them until Lord Kazekage's troops arrive!" Raido yelled because of the rush.

"Yeah... I will take a four man platoon to the northern Imperial Camp. They are pretty close so getting help from the Knight Order should be easy." Genma veered off into another direction, jumping onto the closest foothold.

A distress signal sounded off three times from various speakers throughout the village and a bird was sent into the sky, sending a secret message to any ninja that Konoha is in danger.

"It will be...so easy. This time I can rip apart this sad tree. All of the leaves will be crumbled in my hands." Orochimaru stood outside the gate, his appearance scared the travelers and merchants coming and going. "You should all run... NOW!"

A gigantic white cloud of smoke covered the gate. A giant white snake exploded from the cloud, Orochimaru and Kabuto held themselves on it's head with only their feet. "My lord, I have dispatched the three remaining Sound Ninja Five into the heart of the village."

"My powers have grown to far beyond what Tsunade is capable of." He hissed like a snake as one slithered out of his mouth, handing the 'man' the Grass Longsword. "My white snake can terrorize this small place with much more power than the three-headed snake from years ago."

The snake crashed into the freshly repaired gate arch. Almost instantaneously, a multitude of Leaf ninja jumped into action. Bomb tags exploded all over the creature as it tore through the ninja, one at a time.

Orochimaru pushed off the snake and sliced an unlucky ninja in half, landing on an apartment complex roof. "Now..." His tongue slid around the blade. "Let's see how long it will be until you give up, Tsunade!"

Tsunade ran outside her office, up the stairs onto the roof, watching the action unfold. Ross and Shikamaru followed behind her soon after. "This is really happening..." She watched in awe as the white snake destroyed the entrance.

"Deer... Organize a squad to neutralize that monster. I'm sure you can figure out a weakness." She turned to Shikamaru, who nodded then vanished.

"What should I do?" Ross asked, startled about the situation.

Tsunade smiled. "Your still a kid. Go to the underground chambers and help evacuate along the way."

"Oh... Right." Ross ran down the stairs as fast as he could, wondering where exactly these chambers were.

"Ross!" A young woman's voice called out from the large amount of unsettled people running toward the back of the village. Sakura pushed through the terrorized crowds. "You need to evacuate!"

"Yeah... What about you?" Ross threw the irony at her face. "I want to help."

**Help? Your no good at that... Just run away. If you're not careful, I can break free and get my fill of innocent lives.**

"Please. Both of you need to evacuate." Rock Lee fell to Sakura's side, hair as bobbed as always and eyebrows bushed like shrubs. "It will soon be too dangerous."

"Lee... "Sakura took it into consideration then quickly dismissed it. "I have to help any of the injured."

A circular blue aura surrounded the three as fire rained down on them. It dissipated in an instant and Neji stood in between the three ninja. "Get out of here. I will handle this. Lee help Sakura and get the chunin out of here."

A girl floated down from the air, her hair long and emerald green, wearing the generic clothing of one of the Sound Ninja Five. She landed on the dusty ground, saying nothing.

Lee and Sakura grabbed Ross and jumped off to the shelter. Neji stood still across from her, awaiting more people to escape. "Your clothing is remniscent of a time long past, when we chased an old friend."

The girl stared at him. "My name is Terra Tsuchimaru." Her voice was soft and sweet but with a dark tone.

"I am Neji Hyuga. It has been awhile since I have had a good opponent." He slowly got into the stance with both palms out.

"Why can't I hit you! Fuck!" Sasuke drove his blade at Zakiasu, missing as he jumped to the left and pushed him back with one hand.

"Guess again."

"Fuck! Oto!" Sasuke charged again only to miss as Zakiasu flipped over him.

"Hahaha... Konoha!" Zakiasu chuckled. "You have the worst luck. Maybe I should just end this...?"

"Grr... One more time." Sasuke calmed down. "Gimme one last shot."

"Hahahaha. Gambling is addictive. Sure!" He flipped the coin once again and covered it.

"I..." Sasuke closed his eyes, focusing. "It's..." His eyes shot open, the Sharingan was shaped like a vortex. "Oto!"

"You are wron... What the hell?" Upon revealing the coin, a music note faced up.

"Saikyō No Ken!" The now lightning cloaked katana dug into Zakiasu's right tendon and was then ripped out as Sasuke pushed him away with a kick.

"Ho ho... Damn." He held the wound, the pain was clear from his expression. "I had that rigged... It would always be what I wanted. I have three coins. One has both sides that are different, the other two have both sides painted the same."

Sasuke chuckled as Zakiasu concluded the speech. "I replaced the coin once you answered with my sleeve... God this is painful as hell."

"Sakkaku Sharingan comes with a multitude of new abilities. The one I used is dubbed with the name... Rewind. It turns the last minute into a genjutsu, similar to Izanagi, and takes time back to before the minute. I guessed the coin wrong the first time, but when I went back... I guessed as you removed your hand. Konoha."

"Then go against the Akatsuki... I quit." Zakiasu laughed.

"If I had time to waste... I'd kill you." Sasuke ran to the bright red-orange light, deeper into the cave.

The rocks pulled Zakiasu into the wall as Sasuke left. "Like you could kill me... Gambling isn't my power. Why the hell do you think I am #1? Good luck against my team."


	17. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

The Two Sannin And An Abomination

**AN: I just realized near the end of the chapter... It kinda(once again) sounds like I copied DBZ. I didn't and literally just saw it as I was writing.**

The giant white snake easily annihilated the entire entrance to the village, leveling many buildings. Kabuto held position on it's head, directing it in the battle with some telepathic ability. Leaf ninja could not even manage to to attack him before the monster ripped through them.

The snake dropped it's head, crushing an empty house. As it lifted back up, a green blur rammed into Kabuto, throwing him off the creature and into the rubble. "You... Will never win." The blur stopped in front of him, a smile stretched across the now visible man, sparkling. "You should have embraced your youth before going on this suicide mission."

"My face..." Kabuto gently rubbed the visible mark on his face. "Ow." He moved his eyes up to the man. "Oh... Might Guy. No wonder I was knocked off..."

Guy held his arm out, palm facing himself. "Get up. I will end you for the sake of youth. The youth of the village."

The white snake, no longer being directed by someone, rampaged in random order, destroying with no strategy. Kabuto stood up straight, fixing his glasses. "You realize that I specialize in crushing your muscles without breaking skin? If your ninja info card is correct... Taijutsu is the speciality you chose."

"What are you saying? I'm not gonna even let you touch me." Guy vanished, his speed was unparalled by many and now was the time he needed to use it most.

"Tsunade. Long time, eh?" Orochimaru laughed for no apparent reason. The two of them glared at each other, standing on the dirt streets, alone.

"You monster." Tsunade clenched her fists. "Why attack us now!? Are you so impatient?" Not a single ninja was in sight and it seemed this was going to be a direct one on one battle without interruptions.

"Ahahaha... Somewhat. My reason was to assure my victory with a... Secret weapon." He bent forward a little, allowing his hair to fall forward.

"Like I'm gonna give you time..." She thrusted her fist at him, missing as he flipped to the left. "To use it." Her fist flung to the left, destroying a small building. Orochimaru stood atop the rubble just created with his usual smile, he barely ever lost composure.

"This time will be different... I won't allow you to live. And once your gone... This place will suffer...perhaps from my long experimentation."

"You!" Tsunade jumped forward at the rubble and dropped her leg, shattering the already destroyed building into a small crater. "Monster!"

"Shut it." The Grass Longsword sliced her arm as he flew past, landed then turned back, barely missing her neck as she dodged to the right and dropped an elbow in him, shattering the ground with the collision.

"You will never win!" Tsunade pulled his limp body up and threw it into the sky, chasing it, then digging her fist into his face many times before dropping Orochimaru with a kick.

"Just too bad. Truly. All those hits and I still stand." His face was tearing off somewhat, revealing the young man whos body was stolen. "You're not strong enough to win, this entire defense is pointless."

"Your still..." Tsunade fell from the air, down onto the dusty ground near Orochimaru, who pulled himself up off the road. "Alive?"

"Don't you understand that I cannot lose...? Jastin should have been the least of your worries..."

"Shut up!" Tsunade took in breath after breath, tired from her assault, then took air in before yelling. "Why don't YOU understand!? We will never give up! Konohagakure won't stop until you are no longer a threat!"

"Ever the optimistic one. It is time for my left hand man to finish you. My secret weapon... Hahahaha!" Orochimaru raised both hands toward the sky. "Kurōn o sakusei suru... Warusuke."

"Just die!" Tsunade ran at him, throwing out her fist.

"Wind Style: Devastation." A voice called out, releasing a sharp wave of air blasting her back and destroying a small radius of buildings from behind her. "You have no manners, attacking my Lord while he spoke."

"Wha..." Tsunade gripped her arm and leaned on one knee. "What now?"

A teenage boy floated down in front of Orochimaru. His short spiked hair the exact shade of black, eyes and skin color were copied completely. All the same as Orochimaru. He had skin tight black armor on that gave off the look of being heavy yet somehow light, with spaulders, gaunlets, and boots.

"What the hell? He look so much like you... Is he your..." Tsunade quickly found a somewhat plausible conclusion.

"Son? Hahahah... Don't be stupid. This is the most powerful artificial ninja in the world." Orochimaru proceeded to cackle.

"Arti..." Tsunade got up onto both legs. "...ficial? How?"

"A perfect warrior. Completely artificial. Made up of DNA from many ninja that I experimented on with a touch of my own... And a touch of Sasuke's." He walked next to the teenager. "Warusuke. Kill her."

"Wait...! Where did you get such technology...?" Tsunade huffed and puffed, maintaining the pain with her constitution.

"Had you visited that demon Jastin's dainty little hideout like your friends at the Knight Order had... You too could have obtained this." Orochimaru held out both hands and smiled. "As well as many other things thar are far beyond our own development."

"What do you mean...'Friends at the Knight Order?'" Tsunade asked, scared of the answer.

"If you and your village survive this... Watch out for them." Orochimaru clenched his hands. "Kill her and everything else, Warusuke."

"Of course." Warusuke answered then said, with not a single hand sign. "Forbidden jutsu: Volcanic Devastation!"

"N-No!" Tsunade struggled to move, then collapsed. The ground ripped apart, slowly spreading out across the village. Lava exploded from out of the cracks, big and small. The Leaf was shriveling. Dying.


	18. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Confrontation

Sasuke was almost there, only meters from the entire remaining Akatsuki. Step after step seemed to pass by at such a low rate of speed. His insatiable hunger to be the strongest were only rivaled by the deep hate of Konohagakure, saving Naruto was, to him, the stupidest thing possible.

Upon stepping out of the pathway, each remaining five Akatsuki members stood on the same amount of seperate rock pillars, five meters high and two meters wide. A total of nine pillars surrounded the body of Naruto, one slightly taller and obviously more important.

A middle-aged man wearing a maroon red robe kneeled on the taller pillar, holding an open scroll that faced forward revealing nine circles, seven of them filled with symbols. Orange and red chakra exploded from an unconscious Naruto, flowing into the circle farthest to the left on the scroll.

"What is this?... Hey! I'm here!" Sasuke walked into the enormous almost empty room of the cave, drawing attention to himself.

The middle-aged man looked at one of the members, who nodded then vanished, reappearing next to Sasuke. "Please... leave." The almost thirty year old woman begged. "I wish you would."

"You wish? Like I give a fuck! Sasuke threw his hand up, slicing the woman's face, the Saiykō No Ken now in his hand. He dropped it on her head, missing barely.

"Please! Uchiha!" She brushed away the long black hair that fell to her face as she dodged. "You're just gonna die..."

"Don't count on it. Just ready yourself." Sasuke sneered. "We're gonna fight."

She took in a deep breath, saddened by the concept of battle. "I... I am #6 Eisei-Hei, The Healer. I strongly discourage combat." The wound on her face was gone, all that was left was blood, that which seemingly came from nowhere.

"On second thought... We don't need to fight." The katana disappeared in a flash of lightning. "When you can't catch me to start it!" Sasuke pressed down on his feet then pushed, skimming Eisei-Hei as he threw himself past her. Once his feet hit the ground, he fell to the ground in confusion.

"When you touched me... I released a paralysis toxin from the tip of this senbon." She held, in between her fingers, two long thin needles. "Overconfident fool. I know that you are an S-rank criminal, Uchiha. Even still, I cannot just kill you."

Sasuke lay on the ground, completely limp from head to toe. "D..m...it..." He attempted to speak, vocal cords slowly seizing up.

"Lucky that you won't be feeling any pain... My allies won't be so kind as to let you live." Eisei-Hei bent down, leveling her eyes with Sasuke's. "You are ridiculously overconfident... Attacking our base alone with no clue what the enemy could hold. Perhaps if you had backup then it would have been easier. Someone to watch the other's back in case something like this were to happ–"

She was thrown across the room by a shadow in an instant. It then bent over Sasuke and inserted a syringe that somehow removed the drug. As it helped him up, the orange light illuminated the shadow's face.

Sasuke grunted. "Why are you here, Masaki?" He shook his hands, body still slightly limp from the poison. "Why did you help me?"

"Hmhmhm... Uchiha, do you not remember that I said to get strong? Has you mind decayed over these last 'three years'?" Masaki pulled his black hood off and opened the cloak, pushing it behind him like a cape. He gripped the end of the pole on his back that led to the large scythe blade on the opposite side, pulling it out in front of himself.

"Ch." Sasuke neglected Masaki's presence. "I can do this alone."

"Are you implying that I was going to help you? Hahahaha! You idiot! I am here to fight the strongest..." Masaki walked toward the stone pillars, spinning the scythe in a circle, multiple times.

One of the Akatsuki on the far left jumped from the pillar and dropped down in front of Masaki. "With each member that leaves the transfer, it starts to take longer and longer. Please leave." The brown hair proved it was Katsu, leader of the Akatsuki, that stood there.

"Only if you can kill me." Masaki swiped the blade through the air, ripping off Katsu's right sleeve as he attempted to dodge. "Come on. Fight." The scythe flew at Katsu again, who flipped backwards

"Mohō-Sha: Sharingan." Katsu blinked slowly, his eyes turned red and three tomoe circled the small black pupil in the middle of each eye. "Mohō-Sha: Fireball jutsu." Flames exploded from his mouth in two enormous balls, colliding with Masaki's scythe.

"What's this!? Sharingan? Damn." He ripped the ball in half and dropped it on the other, tearing it apart. "What kind of powers do you have?" The question was retorical, it was like he was speaking to a child.

"Mock me?... I am going to kill you." Katsu pulled a kunai from his sleeve and charged Masaki. "Allow me too."

"Yeah... Right!" The kunai clashed with the scythe, getting caught under the the blade. "My Sharingan counters your false Sharingan. Maybe this isn't going to be such a fun battle..." Masaki forced down on his weapon, tearing the kunai in half, then rammed the blunt top into Katsu's stomach.

Katsu caught himself from falling. "That won't kill me."

"This will!" Masaki faked an attack which Katsu dodged to the left, then swung left, digging the scythe into Katsu's right shoulder. "I got you."

"This is rather painful." Katsu wrapped his hand around the pole. "Mohō-Sha: Gigant Strength." A yellow-brown aura circled his left hand and he ripped out the scythe while jumping back, blood stained the stone floor.

"Not finished!" Masaki swung again, tearing a rip into the robe Katsu wore. "Again!" The blade cut diagonally, slicing a shallow scar into his chest. "And the finale!"

"Stop." Another Akatsuki member held an enormous gray busting blade, adorned with sharp jagged edges on one side, stopping the scythe. His hair black and messy, his face cloaked by a strange emotionless mask with two eye slits and a straight line for a mouth. "This is annoying... Just go...away." He pressured Masaki back, then flung the sword onto his own back.

"Hahaha... Seems these new Akatsuki members have a lot of fight." A beep noise sounded in Masaki's ear. "Oh... Looks like I am needed elsewhere. This was fun." A black smog took him away.

_Damn. I need help against these guys... A group of monsters. _Sasuke took a step back, contemplating what to do. "Can we make a deal?"


	19. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

High-Tech

Jastin eyed the Knight Order campsite, north of Konohagakure. As he sat, overlooking on the small hill, rage flooded his brain. The sun dropped under the horizon, allowing the day to close. Campfires sizzled and cracked around the cluster of tents filled with soldiers, usually clad in silver, but now was their break from the long hours of day.

_It was them. _Jastin inhaled. _They raided my lava hidden base. Nothing was left, not my charging chair nor the copy of myself in case this body were to shatter. I can only imagine what they took... With that technology, ruling this world would be simple. I must stop them and sate my taste for revenge._

Three soldiers huddled around one of the fires, Jakob, Serah, and Samantha. Two of the three generals and the leader of the entire order. Jakob spoke to Samantha in a very serious tone, the conversation ending with him nodding then leaving off the log to the Commanding Tent.

"So what exactly is happening? The village is burning down, only miles from us. We can hear the building exploding..." Serah leaned over her knees using her elbows.

"Orochimaru is attacking." Samantha answered frankly.

"Why don't we help them? Aren't they our allies? And just what were you two talking about?" Serah asked, unknown to almost all the plans hidden from her.

"Serah... Your father never intended for them to become friends with us. This was only a ruse to trick them into using the Forbidden Gems to rid the world of Jastin." Samantha was amazed at how much Jakob hid from his only daughter and one of the Three Generals. "What we spoke about was the refusal of the Leaf's emissaries. They came for help and we denied them...and killed them.

"That is...cruel. I can't just sit here and listen to this... And the explosions that are so close." She slowly exhaled, breathes sounding like hyperventilation.

"You think that's bad?... Jakob sent a search crew into Jastin's base, once Masaki solidified the lava with his ninjutsu... What they found was amazing. It was also, in another view, horrifying." Samantha stood up. "They found...weapons."

Serah was startled. "Weapons? Like what?"

"I'm not sure... I had never seen such things before. They were deadly... deadly enough for a single man to kill an entire twenty man unit."

"What... That's..." Serah quickly went over what Samantha just said. "How do you know it can destroy a unit of twenty...?" The answer was obvious, Jakob slaughtered his own troops to test a weapon.

"Lord Jakob is planning to–" Samantha stopped, throwing herself at Serah to push her out of the way. Wind pressure ripped through the fire and logs, missing the two.

"Hahahaha... You dare to destroy my base?" Jastin floated down to the ground, still in terrible condition. "YOU DARE!?"

"J-Jastin...?" Serah got off the ground, mouth gaped in awe.

"That's right. The gems are gone... How will you manage to kill me?" He chuckled. "I am invincible. And I am looking to take revenge. The work I put into that base took hundreds of years... AND IT'S ALL GONE!"

Samantha pulled the shortbow off her back and an arrow from the quiver on her right waist. "... Jastin." She squeezed the tip and loaded it, then fired.

Jastin threw his remaining hand out, catching the arrow. "Stupid weapon choice." The arrow snapped in half, the tip glowed red then exploded.

"Bomb tags... Got it?" Samantha loaded three more arrows and released them into the smoke. A myriad of explosions followed, the smoke piled high into the air.

"Got it." The smoke was forcibly moved by a wave of power that threw her multiple meters back, drawing blood from her mouth. "What's wrong? Did such a weak blast cause internal damage?"

"Please..." Serah begged. "Please stop!"

"Stop? Stupid notion." Jastin lifted up Samantha with the strange somewhat telekinetic ability he was given from machines. "Aren't you gonna squirm?"

"N..Never..." Her hands dropped the bow and her body became stiff. "I will... Never give you...the satisfaction" Breathing became slowly harder, moment after moment.

"Too bad... You would have lived longer–"

"NO!" Serah, voice almosf cracking, felled Jastin in an instant with the six foot dark gold blade on her back, his other arm shot into the woods.

Samantha fell to her arms. "Thanks... Serah." Her lungs recovering little by little as seconds past.

She clicked the buster blade onto her back with the golden brown leather strap that complemented her skin tight armor. "... Welcome."

Jastin laughed, manipulating gravity to control getting up. "I am out of upper body limbs. It just sucks."

"Of course this bitch lives..." Serah scowled.

"It will take far more that to stop me."

"Step back." An older voice ordered from behind the two, Jakob had the entire camp next to him. Samantha and Serah made their way back to him. "Jastin."

"Hello... Jakob Senshi." Even without upper body limbs and most of his whole body, confidence was far from lacking. "I saw the wreckage that was once my home."

"So what if you did? There is nothing you can do." Jakob cackled, knowing something that no one else should. "We searched the entire base... Took your blueprints, prototypes, and destroyed your back-up body, data, as well as the base itself."

"So...? For doing that, you have brought down my wrath." Jastin acted like a God.

"Hahahahaha!" He held his stomach to exaggerate. "You can do nothing. I looked through your computer, read everything word for word. Energy is needed to use your ability. Energy created by that artificial body." Jakob lifted his finger, pointing at Jastin.

"What are you...insinuating?"

"That body has run dry. I personally saw to the eradication of the chair that supplied your body with power. You are tapping out." Jakob closed his eyes. "So die." He opened his gray eyes and clicked on a strange gadget in his right hand.

"That is!–" Jastin was ripped apart by a concentrated blue beam that fell from the evening sky. "...The world...should fear you..." His final words barely escaped the cavaties of his mouth before he fell into multiple pieces. Death finally caught him.


	20. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Elemental Twins(Part 1):

Fire & Water

Konohagakure was in ruins, fixing such a mess would be impossible. Orochimaru's small attack force of seven was more than enough to dominate the enormous village. The evacuees awaited the attack to be repelled in the underground chambers near the Hokage Stone Faces, unfortunately pushing back Orochimaru was much harder then the time before.

The attack force was released into the village, multiple groups of three to four ninja that were meant to drive the Sound out of Konoha. Elite ninja and Anbu made up the entirety of the groups. Two of which made their way along the eastern wall were halted by two young women, bearing the cloth of the Sound Ninja Five.

"Hey guys!" One of the girls stood on the gate across from one of the squads, her hair long and dark aqua colored, resembling a lake under the night sky "Looks like you found us!"

The other was on the roof of a tall building next to the gate also across from a team, that held position on a building sligjtly lower than her's. This girl had shorter orange-red hair with same small build as the blue-haired girl. "Now that you found us, you gotta die for us. This time I don't plan on letting any ninja live." Her voice was more controlling and serious than the other.

The team on the gate all wore Anbu equipment with specific masks. One of the four stepped forward and said. "There is more of us than you two, not to mention we are all elite Anbu operatives."

"Well, SIR. I think that you are underestimating me. The Sound Ninja Five are a lot better than the last batch. We are fresh cookies." The aqua-haired girl spoke her mind, twirling her long hair as the words escaped.

"May I ask your name?" The Anbu straightened the mask adorned with marks that made it resemble a squid.

"Mine?..." She pointed to herself then proudly stated. "Kyūryū Of The East Gate." Her hand pointed down at the other girl. "I may as well tell you that that bitch over there is my twin sister, Honō Of The West Gate."

"HEY!" Honō yelled up at her sister. "Watch your language!" Her head cocked back down and quickly turned to the other group, made up of four jonin. "Y'all know that your gonna die... Right? Round two, begin."

"Delta!" The brown-haired ninja in front yelled out, immediately signalling the other three to surround her as they jumped from one building to the next.

Each of the three covered her left, right, and middle, preventing escape. Both the left and right drew kunai that were instantly thrown at Hōno. The weapons melted into gray liquid before reaching her, she clutched both of her outward hands, flame pillars shot up from the ground. The fire disintegrated the two ninja on either of her sides, the third panicked and missed the landing slightly, falling fifteen meters down to his death.

"Oh shit! Your alone now!" Hōno pushed off the building, swinging her leg at the remaining jonin's head as she landed. He was thrown off the building, catching himself on a lower elevated one.

"I shall not fall like the others" Sweat dripped from his brow from both nervousness and heat. "Don't expect this to be simple."

Kyūryū watched from above as did the Anbu squad. She looked at the squadron, a childlike smile spread across her face. "See? And guess what?" Her right hand cupped the side of her mouth. "We are the weakest of the Sound Ninja Five..."

"Damn it!" A blonde female Anbu pushed her way out of the team and tapped down down next to the jonin. "I have to help you."

"I thought Anbu had no emotion?" The ninja questioned.

The Anbu glanced back at him then to Hōno. "I can't just let you die."

"Isn't that something... A faulty Anbu. You should be remov–" A male Anbu from the group rammed into his stomach, instantly knocking him out.

"This is a drag... Why'd you gotta do this, Ino?" The man removed his mask to reveal Shikamaru, startling the blonde ninja. "We don't need masks. We just have to help Konoha..." He dropped his eyes to the roof. _And if I am not mistaken... There won't be any more Anbu when this is over._

"Yeah..." Ino took off the butterfly patterned mask. "Let's do it... Shikamaru." Her words were interrupted as she glanced up to Kyūryū.

The other two Anbu copied Shikamaru and Ino, pulling off the masks, revealing Shino and Sai. "Stay." Shino whispered before thrusting forward at Kyūryū, bugs raging around him.

"Haha!" She flipped back as Shino punched, kicking a small orb of water at him mid-flip. The pellet threw Shino back into Sai, who caught him. "That was really stupid, you know? Wait... If you're stupid then you don't know..."

"Was it?" Shino's words carried meaning, he attacked once again, this time with a wave of insects that rained down upon Kyūryū.

"Hahaha! Yep!" She conjured up a shield of water that easily blocked the bugs. "Attacking without strategy will get you nowhere."

"Sai... I advise you swap places with Shikamaru. Ink doesn't mix well with water." Shino pushed his black lenses back up his nose, even under the mask he wore his black lensed glasses had to follow.

"Yes. I understand." Sai pressed a small device in his hear. "Did you hear?"

Shikamaru plopped down next them. "Yeah. Good luck to you, this might be our final battle."

Sai nodded, then spoke before jumping down to Ino. "To you as well."

"What are yoi whispering about? Let's go. I have no time to waste here..." Kyūryu smiled darkly, small marks covered her skin, slowly pulling together to change into a gray layer. "Move Hōno. I'm gonna need a lot of room for this. Straight to business, Second State."


	21. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Temporary reunion

"It is too late." Katsu emotionlessly chuckled in reply to Sasuke's bizarre request. "The deed is finished." The room darkened to a barely visible light, making it hard to see for anyone. "The extraction, complete."

"What...?" Sasuke attempted to rectify what he had just heard, unfortunately there was no need. "The extraction is...done?"

"Indeed 'tis." The middle-aged man spoke as he flew from the pole to the ground next to Katsu, the large scroll under his right arm. "We have eight of them now. One remains."

"Yes. Gather the Akatsuki outside, we will raid the Raikage's transport, for I am sure that he will aid Konohagakure as soon as word reaches them." Katsu ordered.

In an instant, the room was empty, silent. Katsu continued to stand across Sasuke. "Do you have any questions? I am willing to answer."

Sasuke swung the blade through the air, he blocked it with his fist. "What is your goal?"

"We have no real goal. Without the Gedo Mazo, the Ten-Tails cannot be summoned, of course it probably could not be controlled by us anyway. We have no illusionist like Obito."

Sasuke applied pressure, drawing a small stream of blood from Katsu's hand. "That didn't answer my question..."

"Our goal is to kill as many people as possible. Points will be rewarded depending on whose life is ended. With all Nine Tailed Beasts in our possession, each of us could have enormous power. Once we obtain all nine we shall battle each other for the scroll containing them. The winner will have all of them, along with all that power."

Sasuke remained temporarily silent, pressing the blade in even harder, blood spilled down from Katsu's knuckles. "I liked the old Akatsuki better."

"Did you?" Katsu remarked. "You should make your way back to the village you despise oh-so very much. No telling how long it will take for it to be crushed."

"I have other things on my mind at the moment." Sasuke grunted, undecided on whether to go or stay.

"That is too bad, I hope you change your mind." Katsu exploded in crows, startling Sasuke, then glided toward the exit.

"Ch..." He looked back with the corner of his eye. "What do I do now?..." His eyes made their way to the motionless orange lump in the middle of the five pillars. "What would you do, Naruto... Gah. What the hell do I care?" Sasuke grasped his skull, the katana vanished once it was released. "Naruto! I was supposed to kill you... ME! But... You just had to go and get killed by these idiots. FUCK!"

"Calm down...Sasuke..." The lump got up of the floor, straightening itself out. "We should...split up." Naruto looked like crap, it was if he hadn't slept for weeks.

"Naruto..." Sasuke quickly regained composure. "What the hell do you mean 'split up'? I am your enemy, you Goddamn idiot!"

"You...want them to...not get the Eight-Tails? I want...to protect the village. We can split up." Naruto wobbled in a circle before falling to his side, the Sage Staff appearing to hold him up, just in time, proving to be such a useful ability even in this simple situation.

"You got a point..." Sasuke hesitantly agreed. "But I don't think you'll be very useful... You can barely stand."

"Heheh... Yeah. Just go. Before...the Akatsuki leaves too far..." Naruto took deep breathes in and out, glaring at Sasuke.

"Just try not to die." He snickered before charging to the waterfall exit. _That's interesting... Naruto lived. How in the hell...?_

"Agh..." Naruto fell onto the flat rockland, the staff vanishing with the impact. "Kurama... I need you." He began to close his eyes, then a thought crossed his mind. An idea with a hundred percent success. "Hinata... Again, I have to say thanks..." He reached into the beige pouch on his left buttox, grabbing a container shaped like a rod with three circular curves.

It clicked open from the side as Naruto pushed with his thumb. Two white pills laid inside, the third sphere empty. "Now..." He removed the pill next to the empty space, gulping it down with little trouble. "I gotta get back to Konoha to stop that snake... Orochimaru."

"Hmhmhm. Still holding on?" Orochimaru bent over Tsunade's severely burnt body in an enormous dump of charred rubble. "Just barely..."

"Shut...up..." She wheezed for air.

"You have such an ever strong will, just let the flames die, the Leaf is already shriveled and burning" He laughed continuosly, looking around the hundreds of meters covered with destruction. "At last... The end of Konoha."

"It will never...be the end. You..." Tsunade clasped her hands together. "...will never win!" A small purple aura of light instantly surrounded her body. "Ninja Art: Mitotic Regeneration..." The burns vanished along with every other wound that had marred her body.

"Oh ho..." Orochimaru stressed an awed expression. "Not going to lie down and die, I take it?"

"I told you already..." She shivered while getting up, her skin took the place of the burnt blood. "You will never win." Dark purple lines intricately formed around her face.

"You are mistaken, I have seen this technique already, did it not occur to you that I would have created a counteractive ability to well...counter?"

"But you haven't seen my... Mitotic Regeneration: Strength of a Hundred!" Tsunade yelled, the purple lines changed into a different form then slid down her body to the ends of her arms and legs, covering her. "You're finished!" She rammed her fist into his stomach, blasting him away into a large pile of rubble.

"You need to learn your place, woman." The strongest member of the great Sound Ninja Five dropped down in front of her. "Must I show you again?... Ninja Art: Devastation." Warusuke conjured a wave of wind, slicing Tsunade at speeds of nearly 350 miles per hour.

The air cut her skin apart as she braced herself against it, the jutsu cast upon her body healed the wounds as they appeared. "I cannot be killed. Not like this." Tsunade lowered her brow in anger, stepping closer to him, little by little. "You're dead."

"As a matter of fact... It is quite the contrary." Orochimaru removed himself from the shrapnel, right behind Warusuke. "If I were to cut..." His tongue poked out of his mouth and smeared his lips with saliva. "...in just the right places..." He made a picture frame with his fingers, focusing at Tsunade's neck. "... Maybe you would die."


	22. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Elemental Twins(Part 2):

Insects In The Water

Four enormous stone pillars shot up from the land, each seperated by two hundred meters in the shape of a square. One seemed to have smashed through an empty house, another from one of the dirt roads that branched out across Konohagakure, and the final two just outside the wall.

Kyūryū was still across from Shikamaru and Shino. Hōno, Ino, and Sai all were no longer in sight, taking the warning to "get out of the way". Her hair was now much longer, passing her knees, skin a dark gray along with black covering the whites of her eyes. Small slits dug into the sides of her neck, resembling fish gills.

"Maybe..." Shino stepped forward one step, thoughts raced through his mind.

"Maybe?" Shikamaru asked with minimal care.

"You said 'this might be our last battle', it might be true." He answered, then continued. "Hell, it probably is."

"Heh. You see it then? We are overwhelmed. From here you can tell the center of the village is rubble. Orochimaru has some power."

"Um, hello!?" Kyūryū interrupted. "I am literally right here. Didn't you see my flashy transformation? A-And the pillars!?"

"Oh yeah. You're right..." Shikamaru's eyes idled across the landscape. "Four directly at our northeast, west, and southeast, west. Got something planned?"

"Ch! Obviously!" She shouted, her hands clasped each other. "Ninja Art: Landscape Morph!"

A gargantuan wave of water exploded from the ground, crushing multiple building and crashing into the middle of the pillars as if there was an impenetrable wall. The entire area filled to the brim with water like an enormous pool. Shikamaru and Shino just barely managed to avoid the water because of them being on the wall surrounding Konoha. Kyūryū was nowhere in sight, having vanished with the liquid.

"Oh great." Shikamaru sighed; he then quickly shuffled out of the white Anbu flack jacket. "Shino."

"Right." He replied as if an entire strategy was hatched within those two simple words.

Shikamaru grunted. "I don't really like to get wet."

"Is that my problem?" Kyūryū shot from the water, firing multiple bullets of water from her mouth before splashing onto the opposite side of the wall.

The pellets hammered into a swirl of bugs protecting Shikamaru which then dropped into the pool. "Okay. Shino, don't get me killed..." He jogged forward a few steps, crashing into the dense water with a dive. Shikamaru thoroughly examined the underwater rubble with what little vision he had, swimming deep into the water.

Shino knelt down, placing both hands into the pool where Kyūryu resided. "Go. All of my insects." Bugs fell from his arms into the water by the thousands. "With this... I can no longer use any more of my bugs without threatening my life. It should make this a swift battle."

Kyūryū popped out of the water, screaming, bugs eating away at her. "What the hell!? Get them off! NOW!" A torrent of water blew up from the pool, engulfing the entirety of her body.

Shino was blasted back by a wall made of the clear blue liquid. He caught himself, grabbimg the water with chakra, now on the opposite of the wall.

Kyūryū dropped down onto the water, jaded; small piles of dead bugs floated along the top. "Too bad. All you did was disgust me... That wasn't even a little impressive." She wiped of the remnants of the little black insects that stuck to her wet outfit.

"Heh." Shino smiled.

"What? Oh my god, don't even start this cool guy thing..." She readied to jump, then instantly sunk down into the water. "Wha-" Her head went under as she was struggling to get back onto her feet.

"Just as we predicted. The water is made of chakra." He gave out a small chuckle, then pushed up his small black shades. "How do I know this? The water was created by your jutsu, using only a small amount of the planet's water from underground."

"N... Now I am pissed." Kyūryū barely managed to grab the top of the water with her arms. "And you're out of those creepy bugs."

"I have lost a great number of my insects... I would never have done this had they not seemed as though they were insisting. Fortunately some of them know how to play dead." Those words cued a few hundred of the bugs to remove themselves from the dead to rush to their master.

She tryed to get on her feet but slipped underwater once again. With that she gave up trying to stand on the water and swam toward the wall, swifly becoming slower and slower. "Nrg..." Kyūryū plopped onto the bottom, many meters below. _I can barely move... What did bug boy do?_

Shino gave a somewhat satisfied smile. _She must have realized how hard it is too move by now. If only those gill protrusions on her neck weren't there, then it would be finished here. My bugs can only keep this up for so long. _A splash from behind startled Shino, making him yelp.

"Uh... Okay." Shikamaru got out onto the water's surface, wanting to laugh but figured now wasn't really a good time. "It's basically over. I just have to get hold of her."

"Right. I am going to go to the wall, my chakra grows weak." He drove himself onto the wall which seperating the inside of Konoha from the outside. "Now! Return my insects!" Each clump of supposedly dead beetles flew into the air, right at their master and into his skin and under his flak jacket.

"You'll regret that. I will make you." Kyūryū growled as she floated out onto the surface. "This will be the end of bug boy... And you over there."

"Me?" Shikamaru said while yawning, distorting his words.

"Obviously..." She seemed to blush before retorted in anger. "I'm gonna KILL you both..."


	23. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Sealed Fate

"There are four...four wheels to this carriage." Jakob stood over a circular table covered with a white line grid, each location in the entire Shinobi Nation was labeled, no matter how insignificant. "Each wheel believes they are in control of the wagon, yet one is not needed to be where it is."

Samantha was behind him, facing his back, sometimes turning her eyes to see what lie in the leader's tent, disappointment crossed her face as all that was their was the generic bed and bag of clothing. The table was the only addition the normal soldiers were not given. "Carriage? What eh... What exactly do you mean, sir?"

"I am speaking of the four main powers in the situation. One is not needed... The Akatsuki. A useless organization, they will soon no longer exist because of a certain young man. Of course this man cannot win alone, it will require a little...inquiry." Jakob glared at the upper right corner of the Land Of Fire on the grid. "General Samantha."

"Oh...uh, yes sir!" She quickly bent her back straight and placed the side of her hand against her forehead.

"What of the remains?" He snickered like he already knew the answer. "Tell me."

"The remains of the great cyborg Jastin no longer exist. They have each been incinerated using his own technology, there is barely even ash left. He is no longer a threat nor will he ever be once again." Her words were spoken like a professional.

"Good. Hahaha... Good. Allow me to finish watchin the destruction of the useless wheel." Jakob looked back, using his eyes to order her to leave.

Samantha left the tent, out into the slowly darkening evening sun. "That was strange... He seemed different, more so than usual...and his eyes...they looked purple. Hmmm. Ah, I guess this is something to be thinking about. I must sound like weirdo over here talking to myself."

Two lowly ranking soldiers sat across from one another at a small campfire. One seemed to be in a trance, then quickly snapped out of it and began to speak. "Goddamn!"

"Wha-.. What!?" The other soldier was almost sleeeping until his ally yelled. "I...was almost asleep..."

"General Samantha was over there being weird again, talking to herself and whatnot. But she is just so goddamn hot that I don't even care..." He giggled. "I'm definetely gonna get some of that."

The other knight layed on his side, trying to find comfort on the hard log. "Yeah yeah yeah... Thanks for waking me up."

The five Akatsuki met under a large tree outside of Aldmeri, a large grassland was directly to the north, begging for a battle to be fought on it. Katsu was standing prominently on one of the tree branches, looking down upon his allies.

"Nearly half of our members are gone, perhaps making this quite a bit harder. Had Zakiasu not abandoned us, he could have annihilated the Raikage's guard and take him back to us without to much struggle." He summarized how much more challenging it had become to capture the Hachibi.

Rasui stepped forward from the four, his emotionless mask startling Katsu, who wasn't ready for such exposure. "I am #2... Did you forget?"

"O-Of course not." Katsu studdered for an instant. "Zakiasu just so happens to be much more powerful than you. Point-wise and strength-wise."

"Actually. It would be wiser to split into two groups." The older Akatsuki advised. The large scroll had not left his arm since the cave, nor did he plan on letting it go.

"Of course, splitting in two would be an adequate idea. You will lead Eisei-Hei and Sōsa, since they are under your rank, Monogatari." Katsu hopped off the tree, directly to Rasui's side. "We will kill Sasuke."

Monogatari nodded. "Very goo-"

"What!? I have to listen to this geezer?" Sōsa refused in his own words.

"Ignorant brat. You will obey your elder..." His words scared the young man, multiple different chakras exploded around him in a powerful aura.

"Y-Yeah..." Sōsa shivered. _What in the hell...was that? Seven or eight seperate chakras all at once... His power is scary as fuck._

"Now. I can feel Sasuke coming... Go." Katsu sended the Akatsuki members off then his eyes moved to the Aldmeri village, a bright light found Sasuke blade to blade with Rasui, who wielded an enormous busting sword.

"Where are the others!?" Sasuke growled, pressing down on the Saikyō No Ken with all his strength.

"I...don't know what you're talking about." Rasui's voice cracked as he spoke, easily pointing out a hidden laugh.

"You lying fuck! They left for that fucking Kage!" Sasuke screamed, pulling his katana away and hurtling over the second numbered Akatsuki.

"Do not think you can escape." Katsu zipped in front of Sasuke.

"Move!" He readied to attack, but a loud yell caught him, catching all their attention. "Now what?"

Katsu was rammed into the tree behind him by a small circular blue orb. Rasui sliced another heading toward him in half. "A familiar face, I got him Katsu-sama."

"Go! Sasuke!" Naruto shoved a third blue orb into Rasui's blade. "Chase them!"

"Wh... What about your precious village!?"

"I'll get to it!" He inserted a huge chunk of chakra into the ball, throwing Rasui back at the grass.

"Right." Sasuke sped deep into the forests where the other three members were, not long ago.

"Damn... He got away." Katsu pulled himself out of the tree; it cracked and fell, just barely missing him as it slammed into the grassland.

"Two against one... I'm gonna destroy you. For Kurama. YOU'LL ALL DIE!" Naruto prepared to attack, the Sage's robe and staff appeared unto him.

Tsunade was blown back into a wall, one of the only remaining within a large radius. Warusuke flipped his fingers up, lava came from the rubble, instantly covering her and the entire wall.

A scream of agony filled the air, to anyone else it would seem the Hokage had just burned to death, yet for Tsunade it was different. A human figure drove itself out of the deathtrap; Tsunade drop kicked Warusuke into the ground while her skin was still repairing itself, clothes still intact for the most part.

"Bitch!" He got up and grabbed her neck as she was falling before a moment had yet past. "This annoying power is only prolonging your suffering... You have absolutely chance at winning. At all."

"Heheh..." She struggled for air while laughing.

"What?" He dropped her, slamming his leg into her side. "Is it?"

"Gah... Nothing...you need..to be concerned about..." Tsunade latched onto Warusuke's leg and flipped him backward over her head, crushing his leg bone in the lock she had it in.

"GOD...DAMMIT!" He screamed as loud as he could, seemingly provoking the wind to hammer down on her back, tearing apart any skin that happened to be in the way. As she reacted to the impossibly painful wind, Warusuke swiped his leg across her head, freeing his other leg, which was used to dig into her gut.

With that kick, the wind qui.t; Tsunade used the opportunity to reach at his neck. A successful attempt allowed her to lob him as far as she could into the air. "Nice try! Now it's my turn to attack!"

"Is it?" A sly voice breathed down her neck, followed by the sound of flesh meeting metal, she dropped to the ground, the Snake Sword pierced her throat and carried her body as Orochimaru lifted it off the rubble. "I finally have you."

"...ou'll nv...r...in..." Tsunade impatiently spoke as her neck was continuing to heal itself. "You...will never win."

"Hahahahahaha! You haven't even begun to see what I am going to do to this village. My creation... He has the knowledge to preform almost every jutsu in existence, including all of the forbidden ones I developed." He lifted her body higher, showing more strength than he appeared to have.

"Yeah ...so? Can't you do the same?" Tsunade's voice had almost completely repaired around the blade.

"For the most part, although, not even I can successfully use some of the forbidden jutsu that myself created..." Orochimaru swung left, causing Tsunade to slide off the blade which splattered blood across the old building pieces.

"Like this one." Orochimaru snickered, pointing his finger directly up toward the sky. A giant shadow spread out over Konoha, becoming easily visible even in the dark sky.

Tsunade hacked and coughed as her throat healed, standing up on both legs and finding herself staring up at Warusuke. His body floated, but that fact was completely insignificant compared to the gargantuan rock above his head.

"Forbidden jutsu: Meteor Shower." Warusuke said aloud even though no one could hear. "It is the end of days for Konohagakure."

"What... WHAT THE HELL!?" Tsunade tripped at the sight of the meteor, nearly half the size of the entire village.

"Truthfully, this is rather impossible to stop. Once it is formed... the only way to protect it's target is to physically shatter it." Orochimaru began laughing as disturbing as ever. "Which is absolutely impossible!"

"...No..." She dug through her memory to find something that could help; even with years of experience, not one thing came to mind. "This can't be happening..."

"Hahahahaha... Ahahahahaha! This is the end of all of your lives! The Leaf is shriveled and burned...for good." He cackled. "Goodbye Tsunade, I promise it will hurt."


	24. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

Elemental Twins(Final Part):

Three Of Five

Shino was thrashing in the water inside the wall by what seemed actually be the water itself. The pool struggled to keep him down under the water with all its might, like it was a living creature killing it's prey. Shikamaru swiftly formed the hand symbol for the imfamous Shadow Paralysis jutsu, now known to be called Shadow Possession jutsu.

Kyūryū levitated over the enormous body of water on the outside of the walls, using her ninjutsu to control the liquid, for her own needs. Shino attempted remain calm but easily lost concentration and spiraled into a panicking state, his Kikaichu beetles having no effect on this water.

"Hahahaha! Your stupid bugs can't do a thing to that liquid... It was drawn directly from the underground, no chakra needed." She snorted midway through her laugh, temporarily letting loose all control of the water and covering her face. "Oh... Excuse m-e..."

"Shadow Possession success." Shikamaru kneeled with both hands out in front, clasping one another. "Vanity can kill." He got into a standing position, Kyūryū mimicing exactly, still maintaining distance over the pool. "I'm not really the type to do this... And it seems strange how I always end up fighting women. But, you're gonna hafta die."

"No! Unhand me! Let me the fuck go!" Her struggling proved absolutely futile as her entire body floated onto the inside of the wall; Shino was now safely out of the water beside Shikamaru on the broken down wall.

"Glad you didn't set anything off." Shikamaru whispered to his side.

"Just end it." Shino coughed after speaking, dropping to the floor, squirming in an attempt to find comfort.

"Now! Go over here!" Shikamaru dove into the pool on the inside of the village wall, literally forcing Kyūryū to copy him exactly. He swam forward a few meters, their shadows continued to hold together.

She had the fortunate ability to breath so drowning wouldn't be possible. At last she swam into the corner of an old building, previously an apartment complex; her foot tripped a small wire along the way. "Oh no..." Speaking underwater was a simple task as well for her.

Large pieces of ruined houses and businesses flung at Kyūryū, trapping her in a small space surrounded by rubble. "What was the point of this!? Stupid brat!"

Shikamaru released his hold and surfaced for air. "The final wire..." He sliced a barely visible wire in two with a kunai he pulled from his side. "She's as good as dead..."

"I can escape from this with so easily..." She them stopped, starting to suffocate in that instant, then falling to the ground of the enclosure. A huge wall fell from the water, being held up by a spindly wire, crushing her smal space.

"The first set of rubble that captured you... They all had chakra sealing tags. That wall, well it has dozens of bomb tags... Sorry. I really hate to do this but..." Shikamaru leaned over the water, a gigantic explosion ruptured in the water. "Even a woman won't survive against me if they just so happen to be my enemy."

"That was uh...cool and all but... Look." Shino glared at the night sky, the moon vanished under the shadow of something seemingly much larger.

Shikamaru turned around, staring into the large star-filled sky. "What in hell did Tsunade get herself into!?"

"Move!" Sai pulled Ino out of range of the fireball that hammered the road into a small crater. "Be more careful."

Ino found herself somewhat attracted to Sai in that moment, quickly dismissing it as another ball of flames buried itself in a building, causing it to tear in half. "S-Sai! Gotta move!"

The upper part of the building dropped down onto the two ninja, shattering on impact. A man with short red hair held up his arm, crumbling the apartment just before reaching Ino and Sai. "That was close. You two almost bit the dust there..."

"Who are you?" Sai used his body to cover Ino from any danger.

"Stupid!" She elbowed his stomach then quickly changed her face into a much more innocent one. "Thank you stranger...very attractive stranger."

The man looked down at the two, his eyes each had dark red lines that ran directly down each cheek. "My name is Zakiasu Takahashi. Now, you guys need to evacuate. I can kill her, easy."

Sai thought for a moment, then nodded. "Come Ino, we can trust this man."

"Yeah, okay. Give me proof first." Ino would not be duped by this man. "Show me that you plan on fighting her."

"That body." His finger hovered over them, pointing at a body right behind the two. "It is one of the Sound Ninja Five. His name was Tsukari."

"Where did that body..." Sai whispered, then shook his head. "No... It must've already been there..."

Ino examined the green haired dead man, brushing away her blonde hair that constantly fell into her eyes. "He is wearing the same outfit as the girls and has the curse mark on his left wrist. Alright, we'll go...handsome."

The two hopped away in almost perfect synchronization. Honō stood atop a small store, cloaked in fire, skin a dark gray, and hair tips burning in flames. "Are you guys done? Goddamn. Fuck. Come on."

"Just remember... You asked." Zakiasu smirked.

Minutes quickly passed and Honō dropped to the ground, covering in slices with blood pouring from them. "H...w...d...d..u..?" The slur of words was barely audible. "W...t knd...f...pw...r ws...that?" Honō's eyes drifted , then her breathing gave out.

"Aw, too bad." He glanced down at his wtist, now exposed, revealing a small watch. "Not even five minutes. Ha. That makes three total dead, only two remaining. See, I can do more than gamble. Now... For that meteor."


	25. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

Meteorite: Over?

**AN: I have come to realize I do this for my enjoyment as well as the readers and as long as at least one person continues to read, I will keep posting chapters.**

Naruto ducked against the oncoming punch from Katsu, headbutting him in the stomach with the chance given. A clone appeared from nowhere, body slamming and pinning him to the ground. The original Naruto thrusted a Rasengan through his clone, piercing directly into Katsu's gut.

"What the hell is this?" Upon closer examination, the body was only a dummy made of some sort of white-gray clay. "I..." Naruto pulled onto his arm with a large amount of strength, getting no result of freeing it. "I can't get loose!"

"Of course not. That is the most powerful form of Deidara's clay, thick and rather adhesive. Escaping will be quite..." Katsu slowly reappeared near Naruto. "Impossible."

Almost on cue with his words, Naruto yanked his arm from the doll with a loud grunt. "Burn. Fire!" The ground heated up, flames shot up from the ground in an enormous radius circling the tree, as well as Katsu and Rasui, who awaited his turn patiently. "Earth. QUAKE!" The earth ripped apart under the fire in a quick instant, most of the ground falling into the sliced crater.

Sasuke tripped, falling from a branch onto the ground. He peeked back at the direction from whence he came, chuckling. "Impressive. You're gonna be hell to kill." The branch shook as he jumped back onto it. His eyes skimmed along the destruction, before something else caught them, an enormous rock hurdling toward the Earth. "What in the hell? What..."

Naruto stared at the meteor, many miles away from it yet seemingly right next to it. "That's...Konoha. That's going toward..." He hesitantly took in a breath, disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Katsu stood on the outskirts of the large crack upon the earth. "So...the one we fought; it was a clone. Then the real one must either be with Sasuke or running toward the village."

"Obviously." Rasui sat on the ground in "criss-cross" position near Katsu. "I will follow Uchiha."

"No. I will regroup with our other members, you can easily catch up to Naruto and kill him." Katsu vanished into the fires still remnent around the earthen cut. Rasui sighed and got onto his feet, thrusting forward to the distance.

"The Raikage should be here in ten minutes, if our spy informed him of the attack. If so, we will ambush him, kill any living creature within radius, and extract the Eight-Tailed beast at our 'base'." Monogatari summarized the plan to attain the last remaining beast.

"As long as I get most of them kills." Sōsa snickered, licking his lips in anticipation.

"You are far too cruel..." Eisei-hei stared at the grass under her, contemplating a multitude of different things. "Why are we doing this? It's horrible!"

Monogatari looked around at the trees and brush, then directly into her eyes. "For power."

"That's sick!" She turned to run, only to find Sōsa right in her path. "I refuse to do this anymore. You can kill me... But I can't pretend to be like you freaks!"

"Pretend?" Sōsa uttered, smiling crookedly. "You are #5... Two numbers higher than me. That means you have killed more people...than even me, who loves to take a few lives."

Eisei-hei gripped her head, closed both eyes, and screamed. "I will NEVER be like you!"

Lightning dropped from the sky, instantly ripping off Sōsa's left arm as he attempted to dodge, his scream in pain filled the air. A blade dug into his chest from behind, silencing the loud noise protruding from his mouth.

Eisei-hei fell to her knees, balling her eyes out, as Sasuke threw Sōsa into some brush by swinging his katana. "Two more left. Which one is first?"

"Uchiha? Where is Katsu-sama?" Monogatari growled in anger, quickly becoming calm once again. "I can feel his chakra...so very close. For now I will occupy you, my other companion is having a mental breakdown and will be unable to appease your thirst."

"Good. I wanted to kill you ever since I laid eyes on your disgusting bearded face. Unfortunetly, I am a lot stronger than I was back at Aldmeri... Because I saw my purpose once again. I will put an end to this mess and...and KILL NARUTO UZUMAKI!" Sasuke screamed, vanishing in a whirl of leaves.

The real living embodiment of Naruto stood at the gate. Awe saw to it that his mouth stayed open, that giant rock would scare even the strongest man to have such fear, suicide would seem like a well thought out idea. "How will I stop it... HOW!?" He lost his cool, swifty regaining it. "Orochimaru. I know that this all your fault. You did this. I will destroy you..."

He turned back toward the direction were Akatsuki's base was and closed his eyes. "I will get Kurama back...my friend." Naruto's cheeks no longer were marred with the small whisker outlines since he awoke from the extraction, him even surviving was all because of the Nine-Tails.

"You see what my creation is capable of? Tsunade... Your world is done. Konohagakure is finished, even without the big finale, look at this place. It is far worse off than even when Jastin attacked." Orochimaru teetered side-to-side in place, engorged with such an incredible happiness.

Tsunade held herself up on both knees, arms hanging down beside either sides of her thighs, staring up at the meteor, filled with terror. This terror prevented her from looking away or even speaking, all she could do was watch. "... ..." An attempt to speak failed before it even began.

"Warusuke is far stronger than you could imagine... A perfect being." He laughed, as he did with every sentence that left his mouth. "And now."

An intense heat overcome Tsunade, snapping her from her trance. "No... NO!" She rammed her fist into his stomach in an instant, following up with a heel kick to the face, and ending by dropping him to the ground with her foot.

The heat grew hotter by the second, drawing sweat from Tsunade's pores, the lines marking her body withdrew back into the small purple diamond on her forehead. The meteor closed in on the gigantic village, barely half a mile from it. "It's over..."

The large rock began to shake uncontrollaby, small interruptions in the space of the sky surrounding the meteor swirled in circles and it vanished. The sweltering heat disappeared along with it, the feeling of impending doom was gone.

Tsunade didn't bother caring where it went, all that overcame her was a feeling of relief. Orochimaru's face went blank; Warusuke continued to levitate in the air, meters from where the burning stone once was. Orochimaru snorted, then began to laugh, maniacally. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! You think it's done!? IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK!?" One of the rare moments occured, where he lost all composure.

Tsunade kicked his body away, it flipped and flopped back; and smiled, her body quickly giving out. "That's...exactly...what I think. Now that...he is here."

A happy butterfly tickled Naruto's insides as she said that; he was standing directly behind her. "Orochimaru!" The butterfly vanished and fire took it's place. "OROCHIMARU! WHAT DID YOU DO?"


	26. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Not One, Nope, Not One.

The black sky returned, no longer covered by the red glow of the meteor. Tsunade removed herself from between the two; Naruto and Orochimaru. She found a close piece of wreckage to lay against, death was waiting for her at the front door, but she was not yet ready to answer.

"I will kill you..." Naruto mummered under his breath. "Look at what you did!" He yelled at the man as he was returning to both feet.

"You can say that I have done this... But it was all the doing of my Sound ninja. And... It isn't quite done yet. " Orochimaru once again began to laugh. "The reason being..."

Naruto slammed his right fist into his stomach, finishing by throwing the body backward. "Yeah..." He slowly clenched his right palm. "What reason?"

Multiple coughs followed the attack as Orochimaru regained composure. "Warusuke is not done." His finger pointed up, signalling Naruto to look up at the floating young man.

"You must be Naruto Uzumaki... Part of your DNA resides in me as well." Warusuke spoke loud enough to hear through the slight breeze.

"An abomination... So your not done yet? You are about to be!" Naruto started to jump, but was stopped by Warusuke's words.

"Wait. You should know that just because you destroyed that meteor..."

"What? I didn't make it go away.. I thought it was...grandma..." Naruto pondered.

"It doesn't matter. Truly. You see, my jutsu is known as... METEOR RAIN!" Warusuke held his arms out on either side. Three more meteors quickly came into sight, equally the size of the entire village when side-by-side.

"W..." Naruto choked on his words. "What..." The terror that Tsunade felt overcame him, perhaps unparelled by any other emotion that he had ever felt in his entire life. "I... Can't let this bother me. Again. Everyone is relying on me."

"That's quite some spirit. Too bad it won't strengthen you." Warusuke slowly fell until his feet hit the rubble. "Thirty minutes from now, the center of this continent will be a wasteland."

The immense size of each meteor was more than enough to dishearten anyone, no matter how brave Naruto acted, he knew that the entire village was going to be destroyed. Footsteps clacked behind him, a body stood in their wake.

Naruto hopped forward and spun around, lobbing multiple shuriken at the suspicious person. Each one seemed to disappear before impact while the man stood completely still. "Hold on, I am on your side now..." Zakiasu held his right hand at the sky.

"Wh-What are you doing? You're Akatsuki!" Naruto examined the robe and the man's pose. "What are you gonna do?"

"The first rock that headed toward us... I made it vanish. I can only do one more of these masses of chakra and earth... So I am destroyed the left most one, saving all the villagers hidden in your fancy pants secret evacuation place." Zakiasu put up his other arm and grunted.

Naruto was very confused from the speech. "W-Wait! Why and how!?"

"Do I have time to explain?" He asked sarcasticly.

The giant meteor dropping toward the Hokage Stone Faces began to distort, small disturbances appeared in the air and it vanished, a ripple swayed through the air in it's place. Zakiasu fell to his knees, panting. "That's it from me... You're gonna have to kill this guy for me...Orochimaru too." He pulled back many meters and plopped onto the ground.

"W..." Naruto stopped himself from asking, shaking his head in disbelief. "You!" He aimed his right pointer finger at Warusuke. "What's your name?"

"I am the perfect being, Warusuke." He chuckled, genes from Orochimaru were clearly dominant.

"Oh, that's nice. I just wanted to know the name of the guy who's brains are gonna be splattered across the ground!" Anger flooded his body, taking control in its own way. Naruto conjured nearly ten clones that fired into the sky, acting like projectiles.

Warusuke braced himself as the they rained down onto him in a cloud of smoke. Naruto rapidy formed a Rasengan in his palms and threw it into the pile up. "Gravity—Rasengan!" The cloud imploded then instantly exploded in a dark purple-black light.

"Can't even..." A presence held itself and spoke next to Naruto's face. "...tell the difference." He threw his elbow back into Warusuke's stomach. "Between." His body poofed away. "A clone and the real thing." He reappeared in front of the sage, a light purple orb in hand, slamming his palm into Naruto. " Rasengan."

Naruto was thrown back into the rubble. _What.. His clone had the same power as the real one... He can create perfect clones? No...what's more important is... _Everything grew silent in those moments. Each meteor hurdled toward the planet at speeds far exceeded a normal asteroid, in only hours time, nothing would be left of Konoha. "What do...what do I-"

"Do?" Warsuke was above the recovering Naruto, reaching down at his neck and taking in hand. "Yeah, the broad already panicked over my power. Besides, what's to say that I can't just use it again?"

Naruto was lifted above the ground by his gullet, choking for air, begging with his eyes for freedom. In this moment, nothing else mattered, nothing but staying alive. Once again, everything depended on him. The red hued sky blurred as he very slowly lost conscious, the meteors dark red light reminded his of the Kyūbi, of how much he truly missed the beast.

A large slam snapped Naruto from the dying trance, the first thought that came to his mind was the sky rocks, did they hit so soon? Another smacking noise caused him to fall from Warusuke's clutches onto the ground, where he took the opportunity to lie in place, catching his breath as fast as possible. A third and hopefully final smash hit the rubble near Naruto, causing the earth to shake.

"So, your Orochimaru's number one? Heh..." The voice was recognizable but not quite familiar. "Well, I am Akatsuki #2. Let's see who's better..."

Warusuke was now many meters in the air with a bloody lip. "Please do not both me with such a trifling request. I wanted the chance to kill the great Uzumaki before my jutsu crushes this stain..."

"You made this?..." Rasui took a second to take it in. "So when I kill you...will it go away?"

"Hahahahaha! Well, possibly." Warusuke held his palm out toward the Akatsuki. "You have..." His thumb, ring, and pinky finger fell from the five pointing ones. "Twenty minutes."

Rasui swung his enormous busting blade onto his back, the dark steel reflected the meteor in the sky. "Ch... I need about... one."


	27. Chapter 24a

Chapter 24.1: Second Isn't Enough  
Rasui swung his blade horizontally, summoning a whirl of air in the shape of a cresent moon, flying toward Warusuke in moments. The sharp wind dug into his skin while he attempted to dodge, slicing his face and body. No blood surfaced from these illeged wounds, instead brown snakes ripped their way from each marking, the body plopped onto the ground with more skin than bone.

The vicious reptiles slithered slowly toward Rasui, outnumbering him nearly thirty to one. He rammed his large sword into the ground, making sure it stood in place, and made a small chain of hand symbols. "You made the terrible mistake of not knowing what I can do... Dark art: Conscious Lightning."

Warusuke appeared inside Rasui's shadow, cast by the meteor, and thrusted his hand from it, only to be stopped by a pitch black jagged line that fell from up above, each snake suffered the same fate, puffing away upon impact. Warusuke fell backwards onto the ground, paralyzed for an instant.

"See?" Rasui yanked the buster's blade from the dirt and slammed it down into Warusuke, vertically, which reached from his lower stomach to the middle of his ribcage. Black liquid squirting out from the pierced opening, lathering the floors, blade, and Rasui himself with the mysterious oddity.

"Move!" Naruto threw himself at Rasui, grasping his torso and jumping away from the body, which then exploded upwards with a huge black puddle in it's wake. The sword was flung across the battlefield and the body was in pieces. "You almost d–"

"Get off me!" Rasui pushed away the young man, then flew over to his blade, heaving it up with one hand. The black liquid masked almost the entire weapon. "I don't need your help."

Naruto removed himself from the area, staying close enough to jump in again if needed. "You're gonna." He whispered to himself.

"Forbidden jutsu..." A voice carried itself down from above, catching everyone watching's attention. Warusuke kneeled on the bottom of the meteor directly above them, somehow unaffected by the many things that would kill him from being such a place so high in the sky. "Fire Shower."

"Wha–" Naruto squinted. The heat generated fire leading the meteor down enlarged, forming thousands of small falling bullets. "I gotta save..." He looked over at the barely conscious Tsunade and the red-haired Akatsuki member that aided him. "HEY! Akatsuki guy! Save your friend!"

Rasui glanced over at Naruto, who pointed at Zakiasu on the ground. "Why?"

The question tugged on an anger chord. "What do you mean, 'WHY'?" Rasui looked back at the sky, ignoring the question completely. Naruto growled, quickly hopping over to Tsunade. "Grandma..." His eyes once again turned to the red haired ninja. "I-...I'm sorry." He picked her up carefuly and sped away just the flames hit the rubble, shaking the entire village.

For nearly a full minute, the deadly fire fell upon the middle of Konoha. Naruto watched from a building that still stood, Tsunade beside him. "What's happening over there?" A familiar voice asked from behind him. He turned to meet Shikamaru, accompanied by Ino, Sai, and Shino.

"I-I don't know..." Naruto held his forehead in his palm, summarizing the situation in thought. "Oh, Ino, can you get Grandma?"

Ino nodded with subtlety, bending over the injured Hokage. Her medical training may not compare with Sakura's, but she is still able to heal most wounds to an extent.

"Why are you guys here?" Naruto continued to keep his head held.

"Us?" Shikamaru stepped forward, his arm stretched out, grasping Naruto's collar. He yanked on it, almost forcing Naruto to release his head. "What the hell were you thinking!? Just leaving everyone! Sakura broke down! You are goddamn selfish!"

Naruto remained in control. "I had too." He pushed away Shikamaru's hand away. "This isn't like you... Since when am I the one who can keep my emotions in check? Especially compared to you?"

"Yeah..." Shikamaru agreed with a quiet response.

"We are all under a large amount of stress, fear, and pressure." Sai threw his two cents in. "Sometimes even the most put together can fall apart...is what I read in a book."

"... Let's watch the fight, I'll tell ya what I know." Naruto kneeled on the roofs edge, watching the small crater embedded in the middle of the previous battlefield.

Warusuke dropped down into the hole, examining the surroundings; what was left of Rasui was a pile covered in a burning Akatsuki robe. "The black liquid was a type of oil, only prolonging the suffering of burning to death. Now, stop pretending."

The robe whisked off in an invisible wind, Rasui jumped up onto his feet. "Damn..." His clothing concealed by the robe were generic, being a meshed undershirt with a black t-shirt and bagged pants of the same color. The only uniqueness was a dark blue spiked shoulder spaulder on his right and the plain emotionless mask that he still kept. "Was it that unconvincing?"

"If I did not have super human senses, I suppose it would have fooled me. Unfortunetely, you are far too weak to even hope to attack me once. Die." Warusuke threw out his right hand. "Earth style: Ava– Agh!?"

From behind, the buster sword tore Warusuke in half, right to left. Rasui swiftly threw the blade up and jumped up to catch it, dropping down upon Warusuke directly through the middle before both halves even managed to seperate. "What about me not hitting you?... I think it was a one-hit-kill."

"A...g...h..." Warusuke fell into pieces, words could not explain the disgust that overcame Naruto as he watched, gagging from the sight from even such distance.

"Guess you were all words..." The clone of Rasui melted into the floor as the real heavied himself out of the crater, blade in hand, landing just on the edge. "Now how do I get rid of these rocks?" The meteors continued to fall upon Konohagakure, showing no sign of slowing. "Hahaha...wait. I don't care about this crappy village. Actually... Get out here! Orochimaru!"

Responding to the demand, the ground split apart for the Snake King as he rose from the rubble. "I thought I heard someone call out... Sorry, I was busy contemplating Konoha's end..." Tears filled his evil eyes. "What a joy."

Rasui chuckled in disbelief. "Heheheh... Your man is dead. Not paying attention?"

"Oh..." Orochimaru placed the side of his hand onto his forehead, looking from left to right. "I don't see him... Ah well. It doesn't matter."

"What? Why?"

"Why... Well he isn't dead."

"Isn't dead?" Rasui pondered the idea, then laughed. "I made sure of it!" As the words left his mouth, a chill quickly followed. He preformed multiple hand signs. "Er... Ugh... Now, Dark art: Black Lightning!"

Confirming his worst fears, Warusuke jumped from the ground in front of Rasui, as if it were a liquid, and pierced his fist into the Akatsuki's mid chest. On impact, he was dead.


	28. Chapter 24b

Chapter 24.2:

8 Trigrams

**AN: The chapters that are part of another, like this one and three from way back, are always either "meanwhile" or past moments.**

Somewhere near the still intact Hokage manor on the empty streets, Neji fought one of the two remaining Sound Ninja Five. Since that battle started, most of Konoha was ripped apart and two enormous meteors were called upon to finish the job. All of this occuring in a seemingly never ending night.

Neji kneeled on the dirt road, panting like a tired animal. His shirt was ripped apart, leaving only the strange pants he always wore. There were no blood wounds, only a few burns marred his pale torso.

The opponent of the Hyuga, Terra, levitated high over the ground, the Sound ninja uniform was still completely unscathed, although she was just as fatigued as Neji. She was forced to constantly move her emerald hair out of her line of vision because of the sweat.

"Why?" The small question left Neji's mouth. "I have sealed each of your chakra points...three times, yet my Byakugan detects nothing different...and you continue to bombard me with jutsu." He took in a deep breath, while thinking to himself._ But something seems off... Sure, some of her attacks are jutsu but others..._

Terra rose a small bit higher to land on the building behind her. "You're good..." She barely spoke. A small circle of green light surrounded her feet. She put out both palms, chanting unfamiliar words, almost without talking. "Slow...down."

Neji was blurred for a moment, distorted to the world. "What did you do?" He shouted. The ground answered by shattering under him, but instead of falling, he and the rocks were lifted as high as Terra stood. "N-Now what?"

He remained mid air, unable to move. Terra once again chanted quietly; this time it only took an instant for her to finish. "Fire... Flare." The words she spoke moved faster than Neji could comprehend. A small orange-red orb appeared near the center of his stomach; it quickly grew ten times its size and ruptured.

The intensity blasted Neji and the shrapnel into the Hokage's Mansion, destroying a huge portion of it. The attack caused him severe burns in his abdomen and less severe burns across his body. "Wh...what happened? It was too quick for me to...see..."

Terra floated over to the now open second floor where he rested on the manor, landing in front of him. "No... You were only slowed."

"I...was slow?" Neji struggled to talk, whenever he managed, a bad rasp came with the words. "Advanced...jutsu..."

"No. Not jutsu; magic. First, cast Slow Down, then Earth jutsu, then, cast Fire Flare. That is why my chakra points are still unsealed." She silenced after the somewhat short, yet long to her, speech.

The Wheezing filled the air as everything stood quiet. _I don't under...wait. To my best guess, she has the ability to swap between "spells" and jutsu. Maybe this changes her inner focal points as well?... If this is true...it's incredible. Well then, if I could catch her off guard...maybe I can damage her before she swaps._

"Sorry... I hate killing but I must. Neji Hyuga..." Terra dropped her palm at his face; he froze up in fear. "Goodbye." The manor shattered in a gigantic explosion that lasted only a fleeting second. The remains of the long standing mansion rained down onto ground around her as she fell to the floor.

"8 Trigrams..." A palm laid against Terra's back, terrifying her. "2 Palms." The hand left then another struck her right shoulder, followed by the same palm from before. "4 Palms." Two more hits struck her. "8 Palms...!" The fifth hit was angled upwards, throwing her onto up on both legs, a sixth, seventh, and eighth were not far behind. "16 Palms!" Eight more palm smashes spread around her torso, the final whacked her right elbow, spinning her around perfectly.

Terra faced Neji, fully recovered. "32 Palms!" He dug his fingers into her skin another corresponding sixteen times. "And 64 Palms!" Thirty-two more consecutive hits chased his words, the final strike threw her back multiple meters. Neji took in air while bending forward, arms out on each side.

Terra stopped herself and attempted to shake away the daze she was in. "I–"

"Eight Gates Assault!" Neji somehow sped through her, still bent forward, but now directly behind her. Terra coughed up an unreal amount of blood and dropped like a weight onto the rubble. Neji once again took a heavy breath. "You...were tricky..."

"H-H...ow?" Terra just barely managed to say.

"It was my cousin, Hinata. She is somewhat of a genius in creating medicine. Before evacuating, she handed me a small bottle with a single spherical pill." He smiled sincerely. "I would have died if I didn't take it..."

"K-Keep...her...safe." She coughed up small blood splotches.

"You're telling me? You are my enemy..." Neji disregarded the statement as last minute words. "I will."

"Bad...p-people could use...her m-medical ability." Terra closed her eyes once she finished the sentence.

Neji carefully thought about what she said. "I... I suppose I should evacuate. But from the looks of Konoha, and those meteors... I need to find Tsunade."


	29. Chapter 24c

Chapter 24.3:

Eight Gates

**AN: I am gonna use dialect for certain people or words that sound different then they are spelled.**

During Neji's battle against one of the Sound Ninja Five, another drawn out fight was occuring that was a class harder than his at the entrance to Konohagakure next to a crushed part of the wall. The Green Beast of Konoha and Orochimaru's second hand man.

Might Guy dropped his right leg onto the giant snake, sending it back to the summoned world from whence it came in a large cloud of smoke that threw him higher into the air. Kabuto somehow managed to climb his way to Guy's height, missing the right hook.

Guy took advantage of the mistake, grabbing Kabuto's arm and using it to spin around to his back. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Primary..." They began to drop down upside down, head first into the closest building under them. "Lotus!"

The Green Beast back flipped out of the crash zone and safely landed perfectly on his feet, striking a pose with his thumb. His victory was very short lived as Kabuto shot up from the ground directly under him. Even though he was prepared with a jump, Kabuto latched onto his left shin.

"Tell me! Does it hurt!?" He laughed, squeezing his hand tightly. A loud crack could be heard as the bone shattered; it was followed by loud grunt, just barely short of a scream. Guy reacted with a strong right kick into Kabuto's face, seperating the two.

He landed on his right leg, balancing with ease. "You...really are strong. Maybe I deserved this broken leg for underestimating you. Haha... It hurts..."

Kabuto held his bloody nose with enough to calm the pain. "How...dare...you... Touching my face with that filthy thing! " His hand slid into a small beige pouch on his right buttox. After rattling around for nearly a minute, he pulled out two pills.

"Trying to help yourself with medicine? Ha. Tru-ly pitiful. But I will let you to increase your chances of survival." His overconfidence was brimming, for good reason, for he was one of the greatest ninja in Konoha, it helped thar the enemy practically gave away his weakness at taijutsu, Guy's specialty.

"More than that..." He wiped away the blood still covering his face, tossing both pills into his mouth as he did so. "I am far better than you in both ninjutsu and genjutsu. One pill stops the bleeding, the other nulls pain."

"So what? What does it matter if you can't feel? I can still destroy your body."

Kabuto snickered a little, his glasses gleamed in the meteors red glare. "My body will regenerate itself automatically. You can't stop me. At this moment... I am immortal."

Guy let out an angered growl. "No way." He studied the Sound ninja. _I doubt he'd bluff about that. But if he can regenerate...there must be...a limit. Most likely cha-kra-based._

"What are you waiting for?" Kabuto shouted after removing his glasses and pocketing them in the pouch. "I guess...I'll go first– Ninja art: Dead Soul jutsu!"

Guy hopped up ridiculously high in a single jump. "Nice try! Dynamic! Kick!" His right leg stuck straight out, similar to the Dynamic Entry, as he fell toward Kabuto. His leg slammed into the arm of a stranger that rushed to Kabuto's aid. "What!?"

Guy prepared to switch legs but the other was held in place by another stranger. The two smashed him against the floor, standing on both his legs. "Hehehe... Too bad. These bodies don't want you to touch me." Kabuto stood in between the two obviously dead jonin from Konoha that crushed Guy's legs.

"They didn't? Oh-well. Looks like...they have failed." Guy poofed away in a cloud of white smoke. The two ninjas dropped onto the ground, motionless, as Kabuto skimmed the area, struggling to see certain things without glasses.

_If it is chakra based, then I need ta keep beatin' him til' he can't heal! _Guy exploded from the dirt under Kabuto, pounding him into the ground as he took the place of the medic ninja. "Seventh Gate: Kyo-mon! I'm going to end this quick!"

"No you won't!" Kabuto threw his hand out, clasping the hidden weight on Guy's leg. "Wha-"

"Weights. So-rry!" Guy skin turned reddish as he stomped down onto Kabuto's stomach with nearly all his power. "You're not gonna break my bones!" He gripped the cloth near Kabuto's neck and tossed the ninja into the air.

_I can barely move... That stomp affected my body severely. Even though I can't feel it... _Guy smacked Kabuto higher into the air at an angle. _It has such an effect on my body. I must move!_

"Wooooaaaahhhhhh!" A green aura covered Guy completely. "Nowww! FULL POWER!" He pointed his right palm outward then tapped the back of it with his left fist. A cycline of visible air pressure exploded from under him. "Hiru! Dora!"

Before Kabuto had the chance to fall, Guy made a tiger mouth his hands and thrusted them out, consequently forming the air pressure in the face of a tiger, which ripped into Kabuto in a gigantic whirlwind.

Pieces of the buildings nearby tore apart from the sheer pressure of the attack. In an instant, it disappeared, dropping the medical ninja onto the ground nearly one hundred feet below. Guy made his way to the body as fast as he could to prevent any time passing when they weren't together.

"T-oo bad." He taunted. "Looks like I won this one..." His leg dug into the body's side, flipping so that it's face was toward the sky. "What the hell?" One of the ninjas summoned before somehow took the place of the medical ninja. "Where are you!?" Guy's skin returned to its original pigment and he grunted in pain. "M...y musc...les. Damn..."

A smack noise sounded and the green beast fell to the floor, behind him was Kabuto with his right hand extended, a blue aura of chakra around it. "That was the heart. No more blood will get to it. This is the end of the Might Guy, shhh, what a terrible name."

Guy struggled to take in air, at the same time as trying to stay conscious. Sound slowly began to drown out, only Kabuto's leaving footsteps remained. _I can't die yet... I have students... Grown students. But Kakashi and I need ta settle our score. It's... Itsa tie. No...wait. He won our last rock-paper-scissors match. Hahaha... I guess my life is nearly complete already. My time is here..._


	30. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Reckless Hawk

The strange blood-like aura emanating from the meteors lit up the dark sky all around Konohagakure. The light reached even places far away from the village, near the northeast border of the Land Of Fire for instance. That specific location where most of the remaining Akatsuki members were, along with Sasuke.

"You are far outmatched by the power I wield at this moment." Monogatari balanced the scroll on the grass floor, holding the right end with the palm of his hand. "And if that does not startle you, perhaps the idea that our leader, Katsu-sama, is closing in from your backside, will."

Sasuke tilted his head toward the sky, his blue-black hair fell away from the red Sharingan present on both his eyes. "Heheheh... You don't know me very well." He spoke softly.

Their battle so far had been relatively short of excitement. A few back and forth punch fests followed by gloating. The old gray-bearded man constantly brought up the immemse power hidden in the scroll beside, perhaps just stalling for time, waiting for his master to end it. The other two Akatsuki members remained quiet, one was curled in a ball under an old oak tree and the other presumed dead in the brush to their right.

"What is there to know? You are a stupid ninja that cannot strategize a single thing. Everything is a game to you." The old man asserted from his analyzation of the Uchiha.

A small breeze flushed through the forest, shaking the leaves on the trees high above. "Ch... Guess you do know me pretty well." Sasuke purposely stammered, the back of his hair lifted in the wind. "No more stalling. I'm itchin' to fight now!"

He jumped toward Monogatari, dropping the blade down upon the scroll that the Akatsuki protected himself with. "Fool! I will no longer hold back the powers in my possession!" The large scroll shimmered into a glow, blasting Sasuke back in wave of energy. "Eight of the nine original are in this scroll. Without the Hachibi, it's potency decreases nearly one thousand fold."

"Grh, what the hell are you doing?" Sasuke calmy stated as he got back on both feet.

"Nothing. For it is already done." Monogatari tossed the scroll aside; the glowing slowly came to a stop. "Witness history as it happens. 'The Final Uchiha Falls Against The Akatsuki Known As... Monogatari.'"

"Damn." The Sharingan showed Sasuke the enormous aura of chakra that surrounded this man. "No holding back, eh?" The curse mark spread across his body and instantly bypassed the second state into the third. The rock hard leather substance ripped through Sasuke's pants, comfortably setting upon his shins. The short sleeves he wore made the arms much simpler to cover.

"Good. I had hoped you were holding back. I am slowly aging and a good battle shall keep me in shape." He rambled.

Sasuke threw together six hand symbols, then shouted. "Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" The words called upon a large purple-red fireball that seeked out Monogatari, who crossed both arms as a shield. The ball exploded into a vortex of purple flames once it found its target. Sasuke stood safely outside the fire ring marked into the earth. "And you're already dead? Too easy."

"Far from it." Monogatari came into sight, a giant spiked shell had taken the blow, then disappeared into thin air. "Lava style: Lava Pillar." He formed four hand symbols, quickly dropping his hands to the ground after. Sasuke snickered with confidence, awaiting the attack. "You're a little on the stupid side..." A pillar of lava burst of the earth under Sasuke only for a second before dissipating. There was no sign of the target or the attack opening.

From behind, Sasuke ran at Monogatari, vanishing before collision, then reappearing to catch him off guard, with a side kick to the head. The black shin cover crashed against the dense sand that protected Monogatari's head. "Sand?" He disregarded it and swung with his opposite leg, only to be blocked again; this time with the Akatsuki's hand. "Let go!"

Sasuke prepared to chop at his skull but was tossed back onto the ground with a respectful answer. "Very well."

"Why d-..." Sasuke stopped, an immense surge of pain flooded his left leg. "Arg.. Aggghhh." He cried in pain, muffling it with his lips. The black substance was melting away under a coat of white-ish liquid. "Wha...t th...e...hell i...s this!?"

"Knowing nothing of you enemy before battle is foolish. I have the power of each of the tailed beasts, save one. Sand is the Shukaku and corrosive gas or I should say acid is Saiken. I have six others at my disposal."

"It h-hurts... SO MUCH!" Sasuke moaned in agony as it continued to melt away the black substance. "WwWwh...Y? G...GAHHH!"

"Still a child. Using the power of the curse without realizing its ability. The sacred third state manifests itself by using the bones of the user. Those guards may be powerful to an extent but underneath the top layer is similar to the inside of your bones. The pain resembles because that substance is attached to your nerves." Monogatari chuckled.

"Damn...Orochimaru..." Sasuke cursed as the disintigration came to an end, leaving only the pain's shadow outstretched upon the wound. "I guess... I can't move."

"Then I have won." Monogatari threw out his right arm, blue flames enroached it. "Goodbye, disappointment." As if he threw them, the flames shot at the crouched Sasuke.

The ground graciously dented in while the fire exploded, leaving only a stream of smoke leading up to the sky in its wake. The satisfied old man laughed in hapiness. "Ohohoho... Hahahah... Not Itachi, but I am the one who finished off the last Uchiha! As I said! It will forever go down in history!"

"You're wrong." A voice in the dark brush toward the left crawled into his ears. "There are two more Uchiha that remain alive. Perhaps the greatest of them all, but we will discuss them when this is over."

"Who- Preposterous! Name him!" He replied, showing a hint of anger.

"Watch your mouth when speaking to me." From the trees emerged the leader of Akatsuki, Katsu. "Control your anger, it is only I."

"Master! You've arrived!— Ah, who?" Monogatari stepped back as he absorbed all the emotions let loose. Katsu raised his hand, pointing just past the elderly Akatsuki. "Ah..." His eyes followed the fingers target, aimed at two human shaped shadows. "You!?"


	31. Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

The Hawk And The Shadow

Monogatari's yell startled the very little remaining wildlife into fleeing. Katsu regrouped with his ally, preparing to face the new threat in front of them. The old man continued with his awed words. "Why are you here? Why are you helping the enemy!? Are you a complete and utter fool?"

"Naw..." The man stepped from out of the tree shadow, a familiar face to many, it was the leader of The Village Hidden The Clouds; only chosen with the utmost care by the elders. "The Killer Bee was saving his prey, so that he would be okay!" The grown tan man danced around like a five year old that just discovered the activity.

Sasuke bent back and fell against the tree Killer Bee used for cover. The Curse Mark was receding at a very slug pace, leaving him moaning in pain from the acid wound afflicted upon him, attempting to discover the reason this man had saved him deep within his mind.

"I suppose this only makes things easier; a wounded ninja and the final part of our project. Katsu-sama, who will attack this man?" Monogatari peeked back at his master, who was analyzing the Raikage.

Katsu brushed his brown hair with the tips of fingers. "Hm. I'd never want to make the fight unfair, you can handle this man. Just remember not to end his life to preserve the Hachibi."

"Quit ignoring me or you fin'nina be... Dead." Bee reached toward to the bandaged sword resting upon his backside, holding the grip while writing a rhyme in his head. "Samahada rip 'em outta new one!" He yanked on the weapon, the roll of bandages tore off, revealing the dark blue shark skin greatsword as he held it at his side.

The old man unbuttoned the Akatsuki robe until it fluttered away with a gust of wind. "With the power of these beasts, you will be unable to match me."

Sasuke attempted to yell out, but stumbled before beginning. A second try succeeded in providing the sentence, "Th-that guy uses the tailed monsters as weapon, w-watch out."

Bee nodded back at the barely conscious ninja, a sign of thanks for the warning. "I have one inside me as well...so you can just go hell."

"Sand destruction." Monogatari whispered, simultaneously causing the ground to collaspe under Bee, sinking him into a deep black abyss.

"Death from below? I don't think so!" Bee shot up from the five meter around hole, holding the side and pulling up.

"Fool. Wind style: Air Pressure." The old man spoke; sand circled around his right outward palm. Air thrusted down on Bee, forcing him to fall from the edge. "Escape this never ending wind being thrown upon your flesh. It will drop you unto oblivion."

"Let's see it try! Old guy..." Bee yelled from the hole; from his voice, it was obvious he was a long way down. A cloud of smoke blasted out of the darkness, leaving a smoke filled ambience.

"Nothing you can do will save you..." Monogatari warned as he stepped closer to the opening in the ground. "Nothin–gaaah!" A large dark orange like colored hand collapsed onto him from the smoke. The earth ripped apart, leaving for the Eight-Tailed monster to explode from under the ground.

"You've underestimated us. Even with eight other beasts... You cannot beat an original!" Bee's voice was replaced with the voice of the Hachibi, Gyuki. It's hand crushed the old man as it lifted it's arm into the sky. "Let me show you an attack that cannot be stopped!"

"N-No! Let...me...be!" Monogatari screamed, struggling to escape from the giant hand. "Let me be!"

The Eight-Tails tosses him up into the sky; a black orb formed around it's mouth. "Bijudama... Prepare to die!" The ball was pressed into the sky with a dark yellow beam, instantly colliding with the falling Akatsuki member, creating a blinding blast. The sky lit up in a gorgeous yellow light that even Konoha could see.

Sasuke held his shin, even now without a sign, the wound still ached fiercely. Even though he couldn't take part physically, his mind was still engulfed in the present situation. Thoughts raced through his mind, now taking into account the magnitude what was happening. _What is happening is Konoha...? Those giant rocks in the sky... Whatever is causing this had better not destroy that place. It's mine._

Sasuke's eyes wandered the landscape, examining his surroundings. _What a mess. And...there are those two Akatsuki. _He glanced over toward the dead Sōsa and broken down Eisei-Hei. _What is with that woman? Looks like she lost all sanity. That Goddamn other guy... He's alive._

The supposedly dead Akatsuki #7, Sōsa, hopped onto both legs, the missing arm socket was patched over with a white bandage. The wound through his chest was repaired completely. Katsu hopped over to him in a split instant. His mouth moved, Sasuke was too far away to understand the words spoken, fortunately his red eyes could easily read lips. "You are still breathing, younger one?"

Sōsa laughed as he replied. "Heh. Of course. Eisei-hei gave me a few of her pills, I won't be dying anytime soon."

"Really? Well I cannot say the same for Monogatari." Katsu conversated.

"Just cuz the Eight-Tailed is here? That fool was too overconfident with the tailed monsters."

"Yes. This will ruin my strategy completely. If he were to die, all of the beasts would be released. Impossible to recover with my strength alone." Katsu said.

"But you won't be alone! Ha! With all of us together..." A sudden woozy feeling overcame Sōsa.

"Even with us, the beasts would be far too powerful." Katsu turned to the Hachibi, who hung over Monogatari.

"So...what...do you suggest?" Sōsa attempted to hide his wooziness.

An emotionless smile came across Katsu's mouth. "Plan B." The smile looked odd without any feeling behind it.

"Pl...an B?" Sōsa fell to his knees. "Kat...su..sama." Then he dropped down to his face onto the ground.

"Yes. The regrouping of the strongest and the removal of each member of the Akatsuki...weaker than I." Katsu looked down at the no longer breathing ninja, Sōsa Masuta, bending down to take the ring from his finger. "Goodbye."


	32. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

Plan B

**AN: Oh, here is how the point system works in the Akatsuki Reborn. Each kill/capture awards points depending on who is killed/captured and if they were a target or just a personal grudge. Murdering for no reason or killing someone else's target will deduct the score. If you are challenged to a fight by a ninja, you gain points by rank.**

**ie: Target = 10**

**Grudge = 5**

**No reason = -50**

**In the way of a target = 2**

**Genin/Jonin level = 1**

**Chunin/Chunin level = 3**

**Jonin/Jonin level = 5**

**Hokage/Kage level = 30 **

**That's about it.**

Katsu's calming voice narrated. _It is time to start Plan B. A tradition in our organization since it began in one of the great wars by Yahiko. Since we are in danger I must remove all the other members of the Akatsuki, save Zakiasu and Rasui, the most reliable, should they continue to breath. Monogatari cannot be saved from this behemoth. Perhaps I am overreacting but it is time to surrender and allow Orochimaru his victory over Konohagakure...or fail, in which case I will find the tenth ring and complete our group. We will start anew...in the future._

The Akatsuki leader walked over to the unsuspecting Eisei-hei and silenced her with the edge of a kunai through the upper back, piercing through her chest into her heart. "Rest in peace, medic." Katsu whispered and took the Akatsuki ring on her middle finger before turning to glare at the backside and tentacles of the menacing Hachibi. "You as well. Monogatari. You have failed us in this day by activating the power of the beasts. I suppose your ring needs to be collected... Later if it still remains intact."

Sasuke somewhat hoped that Katsu would leave him be, moving would be a small struggle and fighting a man of such power would be a quick death on his part. Besides, it had nothing to do with this "Plan B" that he had secretly discovered.

Katsu turned to the still young Uchiha, that strange emotionless smile once again masking his face. Sasuke scooted his back up the tree and grunted as the leader slowly stepped toward him. "S-Stay away from me!" He shouted, an awkward feeling of terror ran up his spine. With the blink of his eyes, Katsu was looking down upon him. "Get...away!"

"Don't worry boy..." Katsu reached down and touched Sasuke's shin; he was paralyzed with fear of the immense chakra cloaking this man. The pain was relieved by an unknown force, Katsu then removed his hand. "You are useful to us in many ways. More than you know."

Sasuke was breathing heavily, staring down at his shin, then standing, still leaning against the Oak behind him. "Why..." He stopped and altered his question. "What do you mean useful?"

Katsu once again began to watch the Hachibi as it picked up the body in front of it. "I am not surprised that you can't see it. You...your personality and mind are very unstable. To quite an extent. You are always swapping sides against people you hold allegience to, as long as you can claim Konohagakure."

Sasuke allowed the man to speak, leaving the possibility of attacking his back. "Ch..." His tongue made the angered noise.

"Well the village is going to be completly annihilated in somewhere along the line of an hour or two." Katsu said, hinting at something with his words.

"You want me to help fight Orochimaru...and get rid of that falling rock. How? Konoha is too far away." Sasuke easily calculated.

Katsu looked into Sasuke's black eyes. "I can take us with my space-time ninjutsu. It will only be an instant before arrival." The wind picked up with incredible speed then halted.

"What are you going to give me in return?" The young man spoke softly. "How can I trust you won't kill me when my back is turned?"

"You may take Konohagakure and all of it's people and do with them as you please." Katsu placed his right hand onto Sasuke's shoulder, they both started to fade into thin air. "As for trust. I guess there is no way of knowing."

The Eight-Tails held Monogatari's limp body in it's right hand. "Still breathing you heathen?" The voice had reverted to the lyrical Killer Bee.

The old man's wounds were non-existant, the only signs of an attack was labored breathing. "Y..ou still rhyming? Tr...uly...annoying."

"Well then, I guess I gotta be more serious then." Bee spoke through the body of the Hachibi. "Where are all your cuts and bruises?"

"Ha...ha. Stupid fool. I have eight of them inside me... Which one do you think healed me?" Monogatari began to rub together the kindling of a hatred.

"You...didn't...kill him!?" Bee slammed the old man into the ground and crushed down upon him with the weight of both palms atop one another. "The Nine-Tails!? Don't tell me HE is dead!?"

The monster pressed down with incredible power until a deadly burning feeling stained his palms, forcing the removal of them. Monogatari stood up, breathing heavily. "Son Goku has aided me with Magma style jutsu. And Kurama has given me the amazing power of recovery!"

"It can't be!" Gyuki's voice replaced Bee's, full of anger. "There is no way Naruto Uzumaki is dead!"

"Shukaku's Sand Wave!" Monogatari yelled, tearing the earth from behind him. The ground morphed into a tsunami of sand rivaling the size of the Hachibi, if not bigger. "Engulf him." As large as the wave was, it purposely split around him as if he was shielded.

The earth collapsed unto the giant beast, the inside enflamed with blue fire, roasting it. "AHHHHHHGGHH!" Gyuki exploded out of the sand with rage fueling his power, another Tailed Beast Bomb ready for fire. "This is the end of you! It requires a beast to slaughter a beast!"

"Nnnn-no!" The old man shouted as the sand reformed into a gargantuan shield that protected a huge chunk of earth as well as himself. "Shukaku's Sand Shield!"

"Bijudama!" Gyuki released the orb, once again it was shot off with a yellow blast. The ball collided with the shield, digging through it with enormous force. "Sleep in your own sand prison!" The sand lost strength and fell from the sky, along with the bomb, ripping yet another whole into the ground.

Once the smoke cleared, Killer Bee had already returned to his normal body. Monogatari's body resided at the bottom of the spherical crater, an aura of light cloaked his body. Bee hopped down into the semi-sphere with a serious look. "Oh shit... I vaguely remember something like: Killing a host would reult in the beast breaking free. I...hope it don't work the same."


	33. Chapter 28

Chapter 28:

Battleground Gathering

**AN: Here is the point rankings, number of points, and even age of each member of the Akatsuki Reborn... Minus eight and nine for their early deaths.**

**#7 Sōsa Masuta, 18 - 337pts.**

**#6 Eisei-hei, 32 - 340pts.**

**#5 Sagerushi, deceased at 34 - 422pts.**

**#4 Monogatari, 52 - 458pts.**

**#3 Katsu, 36 - 657pts.**

**#2 Rasui Urshe, 21 - 782pts.**

**#1 Zakiasu Takahashi, 26 - 2489pts.**

**Again, that's about it.**

Kabuto hurdled through the intact building until the near center, which was all in ruins. Orochimaru and Warusuke came into his sight as he flipped off of the last thing that was worth using for leverage. The first thing he did was stare directly up at the giant meteor overhead, the other was farther toward The Hokage Stone Faces. "What an interesting thing to behold. I have never seen such a thing so close, it's impact will be deadly." Kabuto continued toward the other Sound ninja, speaking to himself.

"Isn't it absssolutely amazing Kabuto?" Orochimaru sneered. "Such a...thing. All because of this DNA clone and the time warped room. Warusuke is the perfect experiment. Un-killable"

"Please do not praise me while I am in ear range. It is flattering." Warusuke scratched his short, slick, black hair, it was clear Orochimaru was the dominent one because of his purple surrounding his eyes.

Orochimaru eyed the young man, squinting for a second. "Emotions are perhaps a failure. Yet...with none, he would be a rather dull thing."

"I was glad to raise him. This ally has made attacking Konoha easy. This ninja is far superior than any other living ninja. I hesitate to say that he could even rival you, my lord." Kabuto smiled, still glaring at the falling meteor above him.

A sudden disgruntled scream tore from the crater behind the three. "I AM DONE PLAYING! OROCHIMARU! FIGHT ME NOW!"

Orochimaru stepped back, allowing the person to land in his spot. "Hello... Welcome to the end of the Leaf Village. Shall we accommodate you? Please, all you have to do is ask... Hmhmhm."

Naruto looked over the field in the instant he heard the voice, his ears more than perked up. "Sasuke..."

"Naruto get away!" Shikamaru shouted. Naruto turned around to meet the possible threat.

"Would you mind informing me of the location as of now, where my allies are?" Katsu asked them, standing in the middle of the roof. "Rasui and Zakiasu."

Ino quickly jumped to the protection of the three; Naruto was opposite them, alone. She responded to the Akatsuki leader. "If you are refering to that creep with the mask... He is in the middle of their group down there. And Zakiasu is probably dead."

Katsu looked down upon the battleground. Sasuke was a few meters across from Kabuto, Warusuke, and Orochimaru. Rasui was on the ground near the four, yet just out of the way, motionless. "I see. Too unfortunate. Rest in peace, Rasui Urshe."

Naruto pointed his finger at the ruins of a building far to the northwest. Zakiasu was resting against a broken wall, unconscious. "He's there. Now leave, I know you're not here to help us. Not that I would accept you on our team...ever."

"Indeed not. I will take my leave. Beware we will be your enemies once again in the future." Katsu spoke as he warped away to recover his living comrade.

The wind pressed against Naruto's jacket while he readied to jump down to do battle. Shikamaru swiftly grabbed the back of his neck and barked. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"I am helping Sasuke." Naruto whispered. Still a soft spot remained in him, a spot he was sure Sakura had as well.

"You think that monster wants your help? I thought that you had given up finding someone that doesn't want to be found." Shikamaru snorted.

An elbow was shoved into his gut and Naruto flew off the roof. "He still has to have some of himself left! Even just a little bit!" He rolled on the landing to prevent any crippling injuries.

Shikamaru traced Naruto's steps and looked down at the ninja. "What if...he doesn't!? Huh? What if he turns on you? He did use to a Sound ninja!"

"If that happens...!" He started running toward the collection of Sound ninja. "I guess I have to... Kill him..."

"I AM GOING TO RIP YOU APART!" Sasuke shouted; his blade appeared into his hand with a flash of lightning. "This game has gone on for far too long. Saikyo Nō Ken activate!" The words that named the weapon caused a dark blue aura of lightning to cover him, the blade, and the surrounding area. Uncontrolled bolts of lightning struck the ground at random points. "Witness...this...power!"

"What P-OWER!?" Orochimaru snickered with a sinister smile. A snake slitheted out of his mouth and wrapped itself around his right arm, laying it's head on the top of the hand. A blade then slid most of the way out of it's mouth, leaving the handle. "Let me show you exactly how weak you really are... Itachi was far better."

Lightning sparked all around Sasuke as he raged on. "And I am gonna show you just how WEAK you are. And don't EVER say my brother's name again. Got it?"

Naruto surprised them by running in between the two, catching his breath quickly a shout followed. "Wait! We can do this together. Like when we fought against Jastin... We won then!"

"Hahaha." Sasuke laughed. "You idiot. Not this time. Orochimaru is mine." He aimed the blade at the blonde hero. "Besides without that fox... You are useless. Just a useless blonde eyesore that couldn't even save his 'best' friend from a dark path. Move!"

Naruto grinded his teeth and hopped back. Sasuke bent forward and charged at Orochimaru at a speed that kept him visible to human eyes, lightning burned the ground here and there. The Sound ninja raised his arm in preparation to block, still keeping hold of a dark smile. As both weapons were near collision, Naruto grabbed hold of Orochimaru and vanished into thin air, causing Sasuke to trip forward. He easily rolled to recovery and cursed aloud. "GODDAMMIT! NARUTO! What did you do...?"


	34. Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

The True Enemy Is Time

Seemingly to set the ambience, a gust of ominous wind blasted the battlefield. Sasuke brushed away his bangs with his right hand. Confusion stopped the conflict, yet this was only a temporary setback. Naruto had taken Orochimaru and somehow they both completely vanished. Kabuto took initiative to restart the mood of a battlefield. "So... You gonna fight us now? Or run away? The one you're after is gone."

Sasuke grunted and took hold of his blade with both hands. "You serious? I gotta stop this goddamn meteor... Did you forget?"

Kabuto could never forget the gorgeous rock above them. "Of course not. It is such an amazing spectacle. But you realize that I don't really feel like dirty-ing my hands. I have already had my fill of battle this day."

A gut busting laugh filled the air. Sasuke keeled over in laughter, leaning on the blade in his hands. "You're kidding... Think I give a fuck? It's over now." He quickly returned to his battle position, wielding his both blade with hands, left dominate.

"Maybe for you..." Kabuto pressed his glasses up his nose. "Warusuke. End him."

"I don't think so!" Sasuke shoved the Saiykō No Ken all the way through Kabuto's upper right pectoid. His speed was unmatched by this medical ninja, the attack only succeeded because of the glasses. "Thanks for letting me train in that time warp... Now die!" He pulled down on the sword, ripping down Kabuto's chest in a diagnal fashion. Blood spurting all over Sasuke as internal organs were splitting apart. The Ken slid out of the lower left abdomen and the fell to the ground in both seperate pieces.

Warusuke wrapped his arm around Sasuke's neck from behind, the other arm held the blade. "I caught you Senpai."

"What the hell do I care... Kabuto's dead. Orochimaru probably is too."

"Wrong. I am fine." Kabuto smiled. Five meters seperated the two. "Goodbye and good riddance." The ground "tap-ed" as he started going the opposite direction.

"Wait!" Sasuke struggled to shout as his windpipe began to give. He stared down at the dead body that had been mutilated: Rasui Urshe. "W...Where is Orochi...maru? I could tell...you knew."

Kabuto clicked his tongue. "Darn. I suppose I should have acted worried upon his leaving." A quick debate shuffled through his mind. "Sure, I'll tell. The fact is I don't know exactly where he ran off to. But I can guess with the information I have been studying these past two years. Naruto has become a True Sage. The father of the Frog and Snake branches, but you know this already. That will give you the answer... Tootaloo!" Those words sent him hopping off into the village.

"Gggggrrrhhhggg..." Sasuke was slowly dying from the absence of oxygen. Warusuke placed the palm of his hand on Sasuke's Curse Mark while restraining his neck at the same time.

"Let's make this more fun." He snickered, throwing Sasuke forward. "I will watch you suffer as you struggle to fight me."

"What do you...what...?" A tremendous surge of pain shot through his body from the mark on his neck. "AAAAAAGHHH!" Sasuke dropped the blade and fell to his knees, squeezing the Curse Mark as it activated, running acoss his face and body. "Grh... W...what did you..."

"Nothing too drastic." He lied. "I only agitated that mark. Should hurt much more than when you first got it."

"You..." Sasuke rested his right hand on the mark and pulled the sword off the broken ground. "Heh... I...I like your way of thinking..."

"It comes from your DNA. Taken from you during your three years of training inside the time warped area. So it is very much up-to-date." Warusuke bend outward toward him with a smile.

"D...N...A?"

"Of course you would be confused. Did you not think it was suspicious how you have never seen me before, yet I am here as a Sound ninja. It hasn't been very long since you left. The reason for this is because I was created."

Sasuke stood up, uneasily shaking left and right. Keeping balance was ridiculously hard to pull off. "Am I...supposed...to be...scared?"

"No. I am giving you a handicap... Because..." Warusuke scanned the suffering Uchiha. "Hahaha– look at you."

"You...dare? I will...destroy all of you!" Brave words did not back up his body, he wobbled back a few steps then sprinted forward. "Every bit of you! I don't care how much of me you're made from!" Without a break in the sentence, Sasuke managed to speak.

"I know all of your techniques." Warusuke spun forward, forcing Sasuke to miss with his thrust and the Sound ninja tossed the sword away by hitting it. "And look at the state you're in." He chuckled while putting his enemy in full nelson. "You show no promise of winning. Besides..." His voice, a whisper now. "Don't you see how close the meteor is getting?"

Sasuke pressured to get loose with no avail. _Dammit! I have to stop that thing! I AM THE ONE THAT MUST AVENGE ITACHI. I can't even get outta this... Because of this guy. It doesn't matter how much this curse hurts, I have to pull out all the stops. If I don't...I will be killed by that thing in the sky._

Kabuto hopped through the ruins rejoiced at the idea of the village finally being gone. Not that he had a personal grudge, helping his lord was all he was glad about. Even though Orochimaru couldn't care less about him, he couldn't care more about his master. Escaping Konoha was his second priority, his first being something of a bother to him.

Katsu aided Zakiasu to his feet in a hurry. "Please speed up. You may be able to stop a meteor but I cannot."

"I thought you could copy anything?" Zakiasu kidded, he already knew the reason. "Joking. I know you can only mimic ninjutsu."

"Are you fully capable of moving?"

"Yeah. I just dematerialized two meteors. Don't expect me to be doing that to these two. Not even close to enough energy right now..."

"Idiot. Konohagakure no longer needs to strive. You should have let them hit." Katsu blinked, his left eye was now the Sharingan. "Move." He pushed Zakiasu back and turned to an oncoming palm that he swayed to the left to dodge then grabbed the arm of the assailant, quickly throwing the assailant back with incredible force. "I thought we had an alliance?"

Kabuto dusted off his hurt wrist. "Lord Orochimaru finds you too dangerous of an unknown ally. I was ordered to dispose of you in a clean manner."

"Leave #1. Not only are you in no condition to fight, I want to show Orochimaru he was right." Katsu took a small glance behind.

"Already happening..." Zakiasu's dark red eyes shimmered in the bright meteor that caught his attention. "Don't die, Katsu." Upon speaking the words, his body melted away.

Kabuto drew a couple pills and prepared to eat them. "Hm." He pitched one to Katsu who instinctively caught it with the help of his eye. "Let's make this more exhilarating. Let us both take these pills."

"And why would that make any sense?"

"I just...want to have a little fun. Both pills contain a powerful poison, slowly it would make its way through our systems until roughly ten minutes, when it would dissolve in our stomachs. And we would die in an instant."

Katsu locked his eyes with the small red pill with unimportant numbers and letters scribbled onto it. "You have captured my interest. Continue."

Kabuto laughed softly. "The antidote to counteract the pills disintigration is located exactly fifteen meters behind me." He moved to the right and pointed far back at a black box on the top of a pile of shattered wall. "The key to the box is..." A string was wrapped around a key under his neck. "Here."

"I see. Truly an interesting way to die. I accept your terms but first switch pills with me." Katsu readied to toss it.

"Eh... S-Surely you did not think I tricked you?" Kabuto juggled the pill in between both hands. "Fine." The drug was flung through the air, swapped with the red one. They both swallowed the newly exchanged capsules.

"It has been quite a while since I have had the chance to battle seriously. Ten minutes. I have to kill you then take the key and escape Konoha, as well as escape those meteors..." Katsu unbuttoned his Akatsuki robe, sticked it out into the windy air and released it. "I hope there is enough time."


	35. Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

Finale Of Konoha

**AN: Final Chapter. There will be one last (longer and more varying) story after this. To make it a trilogy. Once again, hope this was a good story that you liked, if not, sorry. Goodbye temporarily readers.**

Again, to bring up the topic of death–it is always a serious matter, never trifling except with the most sinister people. A single lost life is a terrible thing, or so it may seem; in reality death only seems to effect some people–the ones with the closest relations to the dead. But with a hundred or perhaps a thousand deaths–no, tens of thousands, how many will be effected? It could potentially destroy many lives of the living family and friends. This is why the meteors must be stopped.

"Nine minutes remain. Shall we start?" Katsu was outfitted with the standard dull gray undershirt that the Akatsuki wore, his pants the same dark blue as each other member. "I have no plans of dying yet."

"O-Of course..." Kabuto hesitated slightly while pulling several kunai from his back pouch. "Eat this!" Three or so of the weapons were flung at the enemy, who easily avoided each of them with clever techniques, his left eye glowed a dark red. "How did you attain that? Kakashi Hatake is alive as far as I know."

"That is because he is alive. I only copied his signature ability a few weeks back during a false mission to attract his attention. Stop wasting time with speech." Katsu rushed Kabuto with barehands, breaking the defensive pose that was set up and slamming his right fist into the medic's stomach. "A Sound ninja is not even close to my level." A second punch dropped onto his skull, throwing him down into the rubble with a smoke side effect.

The small cloud engulfed the area in which they stood, removing visibilty. "M-Maybe a Sound ninja is too weak...heheheh..." Kabuto's arm shot out of the dust and latched upon Katsu's open neck. "But I am much more." A blue aura cloaked his hand and a strange sound emanated from a squeeze. "Lord Orochimaru's right hand man, Kabuto Yakushi."

Within seconds Katsu started losing breath. "What...hah...did you do to me? I..

hah...am struggling...hah...to breath."

"Cut away connection in your esophagus. Can't copy it?" Kabuto swiftly unwraveled the unknown ability that this man possessed.

Katsu mimicked Kabuto's arm thrust and completed the Chakra Scapel technique, shattering his esophagus. "Wr...ong..." Another three kicks landed in his gut, and a final left handed punch disengaged the two. Both of them placed their palms upon their own necks, green light covered them to restore the damaged tissue. "Please hurry up and try harder."

"Heh... Of course." Kabuto still held the few kunai remaining in his left hand, clenching them tightly. _Damn. Copied it down to the last detail, I have to use all my power for this guy. _"Ninja art: Giant Snake Fang jutsu!" He formed multiple hand signs. "Die! Now!"

Katsu's left eye spun in several circles, his hands moved to copy each hand sign. "Ninja art: Giant Snake Fang jutsu!"

Kabuto dashed toward Katsu and swung with each kunai in between a finger, drawing blood from a slight scratch on his face. "Now, it's over." A large white spike ripped out of the rubble and pierced Katsu from behind, then he poofed away in a cloud of white smoke. "A clone...?"

Katsu shadowed behind Kabuto with one of his own kunai at the medic's neck. "So it seems." A second slick spike ripped from the Earth behind the Akatsuki leader and once again dug through his back amd past his stomach. "I...I see. That was...quite intelligent. It worked... At least it would have..." The words melted away along with the body into a sticky black liquid.

"Ahg... What the hell is this!?" Kabuto stammered while attempting to wipe of the splash of liquid. A gigantic force rammed him from the left, he was flung across nearly twenty meters of earth, rebounding of the ground after regaining balance. A grimace of pain weighed down on his face. "M-My...a-arm..." Excrusiating pain stabbed at him relentlessly from the shattered, broken, and dislocated left arm.

"But you are far too amateur for battle. I have won." Katsu turned around and walked away from their battlefield, a silver key in hand. He arrived at the metal-plated box in little hurry with less than a minute before the poison activated. "Now to escape here with the little time remaining." His eyes floated up to the two meteors side-by-side, while pressing the shiny key into the small lock.

A heavy breath carried across the rubble while Kabuto had made his way to the Akatsuki leader. "This...was fun." The pain was still a powerful constant.

"What do you mean...'this was fun?'?" Katsu threw the silver key onto the ground in between them. "Your key failed to open the lock. Now we will both die."

Kabuto wrapped the ridiculously pained arm in a wrapped sling, hiding the struggle to move well. "You...see. The pill I gave you in the first place was a placebo, a sugar pill. You insisted on switching so we traded and I gave you the poison. There is no antidote in that box, I lied."

"Did you? I don't know..." Katsu snickered with a small snug sense of emotion, his eyes wandered to the face of his opponent. "I don't know whether to call you a cheat or call you clever." The final words left and the body tumbled to the broken land.

"Finally dead, now I can alast stop hiding this pain... AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHH!" A spine chilling scream echoed throughout the village. Kabuto fell onto his right side and in an instant slipped away into unconsciousness.

Warusuke's tight grip around Sasuke neck loosened during a strange human scream from somewhere in the village echoed. That instant allowed a counterattack and freedom from the nelson hold with a back kick in the stomach and elbow to the face.

"Now. I am not holding back. Talk time is over." Sasuke pulled out a scroll from somewhere inside his wardrobe, then tossed it up toward the sky. Inu, I, Tori, Saru, Hitsuji, were the familiar words going through his mind as he chained five hand signs. The scroll fell upon his right hand as he shredded some skin on his left thumb with the teeth.

Warusuke rubbed his face quickly to negate the pain from the elbow. "Good. I have no need to hold back either." Marks resembling Sasuke's suddenly became visible all over his slightly gray skin. "This curse is now simply a source of power. Only a curse is you cannot wield it properly. It is more of a blessing."

Sasuke swung open the scroll and skid his blood covered thumb across the strange symbols marking the contents of the item. "We're done talking. This is the ultimate power! Curse Mark Level Four!" A poof sound summoned a cloud of white around him.

"You don't seem to understand. Watch me as I show you the mastered Heaven Curse Mark." Warusuke's skin darkened to a black-gray, two large wings shot out of his back, they resembled some sort of demon like design with skin and bone. A black mark shaped like a four pointed star tattooed itself over his nose. His hair grew to neck length and turned a bland almost-not-there color.

Sasuke forced the smoke to evaporate by flapping the hand shaped wings on his back. His hair was the same color as the enemy before with much more length. The garment now heavied upon him was the armor of Madara, the same dark red, the same metal, and still light as ever. "My power is far stronger than yours. Just a set of crappy wings won't change that."

Warusuke threw his hands together. "Forbidden jutsu: Earth Spire." A split second didn't pass before the ground ripped apart with multiple cracks, the ground became unleveled with some parts rising and some falling.

Sasuke blurred away, no longer in sight. While Warusuke levitated in the air over the massive destruction. A giant spiked pillar tore through the destroyed ground high into the sky, towering of Konoha and just over the stone faces. It had a base of one hundred meters, its height neared the main oncoming meteor.

Sasuke smacked Warusuke from behind with a heavy kick that forced him to crash into the large spire. A follow up Chidori missed the enemy and crater-ed the side of the structure. "Dammit! Get back here!"

Warusuke glided through the air at an average comfortable speed until Sasuke was instantly on his tail, this resulted in a chase that didn't last for too long. Sasuke caught up quick and kicked him from behind with both legs, once again toward the spire. The second time Sasuke attempted to grab him but was given a left jab to the face, then a one-two combo that drew blood out the mouth. "Hahaha. I haven't even begun to use my full strength Uchiha. Calmness and control will always beat out anger and rage."

Sasuke stopped the next punch with his right palm. "Really? I am still recovering from whatever you did to this thing on my neck..." Another punch with the opposite fist was caught as well. "And now it looks like a deadlock."

"Does it?" Warusuke sighed, he tiredly tried to swing his right leg up but was stopped by Sasuke's right leg. "I guess so... Now what now?"

"Now..." Sasuke flexed his muscles and caused of them to mutually seperate; Warusuke was suddenly impaled by the Saikyō No Ken from behind. The blade pierced just under the middle of his ribs, barely missing the liver. "I am winning." Sasuke zipped forward and shoved his foot into Warusuke's mid torso while pressing out the blade at the same time.

Sasuke pulled the cloth of Warusuke's shirt and used the leverage to throw him at the ground with a bonus kick. He swifty grabbed the falling blade as well as catching then slicing into the enemy's chest. "I so much stronger with my sword. Faster too. Looks like not even you can escape."

"Heh... hah...hah... Guess not. It's...it's pretty unfortunate that you still can't even imagine winning." Warsuke gripped Sasuke's hand that held the blade still stuck in him. "I... I can see how scared you are, look at this...shivering."

Sasuke gritted his teeth with a startled, surprised look. "L-Let go of me! Fuck!' A quick tug on the handle of the Saikyō No Ken proved entirely useless. "FUCK! GET THE HELL AWAY!"

"Hah...hahahaha! Are you that scared!? You haven't...even bothered to use the Sekkaku Sharingan. And here I have been...letting you beat the hell outta me... Maybe you actually can't use it? Did the agitation I caused to the Curse effect you in such a way?" Warusuke winced, a pained smile on his face at the same moment. He squeezed tightlt on Sasuke's hand and his dark wings stretched far out; he did not need them to fly because of his own ability. "Time to put you in your place."

Sasuke used his other hand to try and free the captured hand. "D-Damn!" He slammed his knee into Warusuke's intestines. "What the hell kinda monster are you!?"

Warusuke formed a one-handed chain of hand signs. "Forbidden jutsu..." The Earth shook rapidly, surprising them both. "Ahh... We should...land." The tip of the spire had been hit by the meteor and continued down it's path. Warusuke and Sasuke were instantly on the ground in milliseconds.

"NO!" Sasuke's yanked the blade out of Warusuke's torso with a blast of lightning. _The only thing left to do is hope that killing this guy will stop these things. _The Saikyō No Ken burst into an aura of lightning, while Sasuke was flipping back many meters. "Saikyō No Ken: Chidori Blade!"

Warusuke snickered. The earth exploded in an enormous quake as the second meteor hit the Hokage Stone Faces and annihilated it with a huge eruption, causing a chain of smaller explosions. "Can you kill me and escape in time?"

Sasuke flapped his wings to takeoff, digging the Ken into the rubble. The roaring scream of the Chidori lightning absorbed him completely. "DIIIIIEEEE!"

Warusuke awaited the arrival of Sasuke until impact, when he allowed the blade to slip in between his arms and stopped the attack by tightly grabbing his left wrist. "Looks like your too weak. Isn't that just... Too bad?"

Sasuke cursed himself. He had failed to protect Konoha for his own ambition; it was over. The first meteor made its way to the ground and erupted multiple times, destroying everything. The walls fell apart and the village was gone in those instants. The era of Konohagakure was over and now it was time for a new era. There is no telling if it will be era of peace or suffering. Time will only tell, but unfortunetly, time is a cruel thing.


End file.
